Ahmed Mohamed Clock a ‘Purposeful Hoax,’ Potential Fraud Case, Says Judge Napolitano
On Monday's "The Kelly File," Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Texas teenager Ahmed Mohamed and his parents may have committed a "purposeful hoax" when they claimed the 14-year-old boy had invented a clock that was mistaken for a bomb by his high school.
While the school and police were sharply criticized for overreacting, Mohamed had been widely praised for his ingenuity in creating the clock. Mark Zuckerberg offered him an internship at Facebook. President Barack Obama offered an invitation to the White House.
When the story went national, along with a picture of the clock, electronic experts have said it looks similar to a 1980s clock sold by Radio Shack. It is alleged that the boy took apart an existing clock and moved the inside components into a pencil box.
"Some of the experts pointed out that Ahmed's device and the old Radio Shack clock share the exact same screen, same buttons, same 9-volt back up battery system," Fox correspondent Trace Gallagher says in the video. "They point out Ahmed's clock has serial numbers and the imprint of an American flag."
Gallagher says that experts wonder if he was inventing a new clock, why he would use a 30-year-old circuit board that is unavailable today.
"It now appears that this was a purposeful hoax for whatever reason, we don't know," Napolitano said.
Napolitano also says that if the parents were involved in a hoax, it becomes a fraud case because thousands of dollars have been donated to their son through a legal fund, as well as a college scholarship fund.
The Mohamed family has not commented about the hoax claim.
Meanwhile, The Dallas Morning News reports that the Muslim teenager has withdrawn from MacArthur High School. Mohamed's father, Mohamed El-Hassan Mohamed, told the newspaper that he has pulled all of his children out of area schools.
"Ahmed said, 'I don't want to go to MacArthur,'" Mohamed said on Tuesday. "These kids aren't going to be happy there."
Ahmed has received enrollment offers from various schools, according to his father.
According to The Dallas Morning News, on Wednesday the family will fly to New York where United Nations dignitaries will meet the boy. Thereafter, the family plans a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to plan their future from holy ground.
"I ask Allah to bless this time," Mohamed said. "After that, we'll see."
He also said that when the family returns to the U.S., "we'll visit President Obama."
Ahmed was arrested on Sept. 14, at the Irving, Texas high school after showing his teacher a digital clock that he had invented from a pencil case. The teacher called authorities, fearful the device could be a bomb.
"They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb," the freshman later told WFAA after being released from police custody.
The charges against him were quickly dropped.
The family is moving forward with legal action against the school and the police, and keeping the donations.
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