A man from Michigan, USA, has gone above and beyond to avoid looking after his girlfriend’s pet while she’s away. He even created and sent a fake bomb threat to the cruise ship on which his girlfriend would be boarding, just to avoid the simple responsibility of pet care.
Joshua Lowe, 19, happens to be the Michigan man in question. Lowe’s girlfriend was going away on a lengthy Caribbean cruise with her family, and supposedly no one else could take care of the girl’s pet. Turns out Lowe was also living with his girlfriend’s family, so he was the immediate candidate as pet-sitter.
However, Lowe admitted that he was not keen on the responsibility while his girlfriend was out on a cruise and was having fun; hence, he emailed the Carnival Corp cruise line with a simple message:
“Hey, I think someone might have a bomb on your sunrise cruise ship,” transcript courtesy of The Independent
As expected, Lowe’s email plunged the cruise ship into chaos, and the crew had to search all 1,000 rooms onboard. After the bomb scare, the ship also had to detour to the nearest port. What’s even worse is that the sunrise cruise ship had already departed as early as January 2024 and was apparently in the middle of its journey.
After finding no bomb on board, the cruise ship authorities alerted the FBI, which then traced the email back to Joshua Lowe. Thus, on April 14, at a federal court in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Lowe was sentenced to eight months in prison after admitting guilt for what he did.
Could’ve Just Refused
Still, one could say that Lowe got off lightly since false bomb threats carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. According to one of the attorneys on the matter, Lowe was also somehow lucky no one got hurt because of his bomb threat; otherwise, the sentence would’ve been heavier.
It’s unclear what kind of pet the girlfriend wanted Lowe to look after, though it would’ve been too absurd if it were only a goldfish. In any case, the FBI has reiterated that bomb threats are not to be made lightly, regardless of which pet you don’t want to look after.
“That would be considered a red flag, right?” questions Redditor DamnItDarin
“The article didn’t include what kind of pets they were. So I’m going to assume goldfish,” assumes Redditor amateur_mistake
“I would have just paid a dog sitter but I guess that works too…” suggested Redditor Odd_Inter3st
Immediately, Joshua Lowe’s short-sighted act has collectively drawn the memory of people who have had toxic partners, with many stating that going as far as to commit a felony and endanger hundreds (or thousands) of people just to avoid taking care of pets is the reddest of flags (or it should be).
