Posted on: Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Not-guilty plea entered for threats aboard ship

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kelley Marie Ferguson, the California woman accused of making terrorist threats aboard a Hilo-bound cruise ship, pleaded not guilty yesterday in federal court.

Ferguson, 20, of Laguna Hills, is charged with two counts of threatening acts of terrorism, each carrying the possibility of up to 10 years in prison. A jury trial is scheduled to begin July 8.

Ferguson was traveling with her parents last month aboard Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas when crew members found two notes threatening to kill "all Americanos" aboard if the ship docked at a U.S. port. The ship, with nearly 2,400 people on board, was on a 10-day voyage out of Ensenada, Mexico.

The notes prompted authorities to divert the ship to O'ahu, where 120 federal, state and military investigators searched the ship. Nothing was found.

But Ferguson confessed during an interview, saying she had hoped to cut short the cruise so she could return home to her boyfriend in Orange County. She has been in custody at the Federal Detention Center since her April 26 arrest.

Tim Ferguson, the owner of an auto repair shop, said his family decided against posting bail for his daughter because they do not want her associating with her boyfriend, who has a criminal record.

"It had nothing to do with tough love," he said yesterday. "We didn't want to take a chance of her running off with that dumb boyfriend. Then her problems would really be big."