Ailina Tsarnaeva, sister of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, was arrested on Tuesday after a court appearance on allegations that she threatened to "put a bomb" on a perceived romantic rival, according to The Associated Press.
Tsarnaeva, 24, of North Bergen, New Jersey, is accused of aggravated harassment charges and threatening a woman who previously had a romantic relationship with her husband, the AP reported.
"Leave my man alone," she said in a phone call on Aug. 25, according to the criminal complaint, according to the AP. "Stop looking for him. I have people. I know people that can put a bomb where you live."
Tsarnaeva's attorney, Susan Marcus, said she disputes making such statements, the AP reported. "My client is an easy target," Marcus said. "This is an uncorroborated claim."
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Abreu said Tsarnaeva was apparently referencing her brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who were the subjects of an intense manhunt in the Boston area in the days after the deadly April 2013 marathon bombing, the AP reported.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died following a gunbattle with police, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured, according to the AP.
Prosecutors said Tsarnaeva had driven past the woman's house since an order of protection was issued, the AP reported.
Marcus said Tsarnaeva, a mother of two including a 5-month-old, and her family had "absolutely no means" and she did not deserve to be jailed, according to the AP.
According to a statement Tsarnaeva gave police, she called the woman to tell her to leave her family alone because she had been harassing her husband, the AP reported.
"She started screaming and calling me names and saying that I will see what she is going to do to me," she said, according to the statement, according to the AP. "So I hung up the phone on her."
Judge Denise Dominquez renewed the order of protection and set bail at $5,000, the AP reported.
Tsarnaeva has an ongoing case in Massachusetts and is required to check in with probation officers since prosecutors said she failed to cooperate with a 2010 counterfeiting investigation, according to the AP. Prosecutors said she picked up someone who passed a counterfeit bill at a restaurant at a Boston mall and lied about certain salient facts during the investigation.
She also was arrested in 2009 on charges that she left the scene of an accident, but the case was dismissed, prosecutors said, the AP reported.
