MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — An investigator assigned to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office’s Homeland Security Bureau didn’t think Eulalio Orama’s alleged joke was funny.

Neither did the American Airlines gate agents at Miami International Airport, nor his fellow travelers at the North Terminal in Concourse D.

While answering a question about whether or not he had lithium batteries in his carry-on bag, “the gate agents heard him say he had a bomb,” the investigator wrote, according to M-DSO’s arrest report.

Deputies detained Orama shortly before 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and the M-DSO HSB investigator questioned him in an interview room before his arrest at 2:20 p.m., records show.

Orama, who was born in Cuba and has lived in the U.S. for about a decade, claimed he had jokingly said in Spanish, “A bomb doesn’t fit inside the bag,” according to the M-DSO HSB investigator’s arrest report.

Gate agents reported that Orama, who lives in Houston, was upset after he learned that he had to check in his carry-on bag because there wasn’t enough overhead space, according to the arrest report.

Shortly before 8:05 p.m., on Wednesday, Miami-Dade corrections booked Orama at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.

Orama faced a second-degree felony charge of false report concerning planting a bomb, explosive, or weapon of mass destruction in, or committing arson against, state-owned property.

Orama appeared before Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer on Thursday morning for a bond court hearing.

“Stay away from Miami International Airport ... unless you have a ticket to travel,” Glazer told Orama in court.

Glazer set his bond at $1,000. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge David Young was set to preside over the case, according to court records.

Local 10 News Assignment Editor Carson Merlo contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.