Former St. Thomas Student Sentenced To 1 Year For Bomb Threats
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A former University of St. Thomas student accused of calling in phony bomb threats targeting buildings where he was supposed to be attending class was sentenced Tuesday to a year in federal prison.
Authorities said Ray Persaud, 22, of Blaine, called in bomb threats on three separate occasions in 2019 because he had failed to complete his homework and was not prepared for class. The hoaxes resulted in the evacuation of buildings and in one case the shutdown of the entire St. Paul campus.
"The bomb threats caused substantial fear and disruption to the university," U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald said in a statement.
Persaud pleaded guilty in September to one count of using an instrumentality of interstate commerce to make a threat to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual, and to damage or destroy any building, by means of fire and explosive.
Judge Judge Eric C. Tostrud also ordered Persaud to serve two years of supervised release.
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