A federal judge issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for an Anchorage man FBI agents say is behind a bomb threat this year at a Pennsylvania college campus.
An agent said in a sworn affidavit dated Wednesday that a Twitter user called “BdanJafarSaleem” posted a series of threatening tweets in May claiming he placed several explosive devices around the campus of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, hoping to “inflict the utmost damage possible.” The threats were also emailed directly to Lafayette College officials that day, the affidavit said.
One of the tweets reportedly included a letter in which the user claimed that, after losing his grandfather and being broken up with by his girlfriend, he found “faith and healing in Allah” and pledged allegiance to ISIS. The Twitter account had been created using a fake phone number, the affidavit said.
The college determined the threats were not credible, according to the Allentown Morning Call.
Agents traced the account to Gavin Casdorph, 20, of Anchorage, the affidavit said. Casdorph told agents he made the threats after getting into an argument online with another Internet user on Discord, a voice and texting application used by gamers. Casdorph said the user, called “Neuroscientist,” challenged him to make the threats.
Agents said Casdorph boasted he believed “it would not have been easy for law enforcement to prove how he did it unless he admitted to it.”
The judge who issued the warrant approved a motion Wednesday to have the charges sealed.