ST. PAUL, MN — United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced the guilty plea of Ray Persaud, 21, to calling in a bomb threat to the University of St. Thomas on September 17, 2019. Persaud entered his guilty plea this morning.
According to documents filed with the court, on three separate occasions – April 17, 2019; August 20, 2019; and September 17, 2019 – Persaud, who was at the time an undergraduate student at the University of St. Thomas, called in to the University’s main switchboard and falsely stated that there was a bomb on the St. Paul campus. The three bomb threats caused substantial disruption to the University, including the evacuation of campus buildings and a child care center, re-routing of traffic on nearby streets, and a full response by the University’s Public Safety personnel.
Persaud admitted that on the dates he called in the bomb threats he had failed to complete his homework and was unprepared for class. Persaud pleaded guilty to count three of the indictment, charging him with the September 17, 2019, bomb threat. At the time of sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will ask the Court to dismiss the April 17, 2019, and August 20, 2019, charges.
