CLEVELAND A New Jersey man accused of making a bomb threat on board a Continental flight on Monday, Oct. 9, causing it to be diverted to Cleveland, was charged the following day with disrupting a flight crew. The FBI identified the man as John M. Azzinaro, 37, of Oak Ridge, N.J. If convicted of the one count of interfering with a flight crew, he faces up to $1 million in fines and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The federal charge came less than 24 hours after Newark N.J.-bound Continental Express Flight 2772 made the emergency landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport shortly after taking off from Cincinnati Monday night. Azzinaro allegedly told a passenger sitting next to him that he had a bomb, airport spokeswoman Pat Smith said. The crew opted to divert as a precaution, said Continental spokeswoman Julie King. No bomb was discovered and all 14 passengers and three crew members onboard were safe, said Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho. “The chances of an actual bomb being on board is extremely slim,” Smith said. “But you still don’t dismiss it.” Smith said Azzinaro was acting disoriented when he was removed from the plane and it wasn’t immediately known what caused his confused behavior or whether he was somehow impaired. Azzinaro appeared in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, where Magistrate Judge Patricia Hemann released Azzinaro on bond and allowed him to fly home. The judge ordered Azzinaro not to drink alcohol in excess, not to drink on the flight and to avoid alcohol three hours prior to his flight. Passengers interviewed by local television stations said Azzinaro kept switching seats, at one point put a blanket over his head and was drinking alcohol on the flight. Law enforcement officials would not say if alcohol was involved. “We don’t know what the motivation from the passenger was,” Stacho said. Passenger Bret Cullivan of Portland, Ore., told WOIO-TV that Azzinaro had at least one alcoholic drink onboard. “The guy asked for a second drink and the flight attendant said no, and that’s when he supposedly made the threat that he had a bomb,” Cullivan said. The plane landed just before 9 p.m. at an isolated part of the airport, away from the terminal and other planes.