An Alaska video gamer faces up to 10 years in prison after allegedly making false bomb threats against Lafayette College in eastern Pennsylvania just days before graduation, officials announced Wednesday.
Gavin Lee Casdorph, 30, was arrested in Anchorage on Dec. 12 after a six-month investigation. He has been charged with willfully making threats and maliciously conveying false information, according to U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain.
Casdorph faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years plus a $250,000 fine.
According to investigators, Casdorph made the threats in May while posing as a Lafayette student with allegiance to the Islamic State group Isis. On social media posts disseminated in the spring, Casdorph claimed to have been radicalized after his grandfather died and girlfriend broke up with him. He tweeted that he had placed bombs all over campus and “found faith in Allah,” investigators said.
As a result of the threats, school officials were forced to reschedule finals and change the location of graduation ceremonies.
All of the threats were false, however. In reality, Casdorph was embroiled in a bitter online argument with fellow video gamers who were all playing the game Counter Strike, McSwain said.
Casdorph allegedly created an anonymous Twitter account using the handle BdanJafarSaleem to make the threats against Lafayette and covered his tracks by buying a fake number from a Russia website, McSwain said.
“Bomb threats emailed to school officials, threatening statements posted on social media, these are the symptoms of a nationwide epidemic of violent school threats that breed fear, anxiety and frustration,” McSwain said. “We as a nation as have too often grieved the loss of life due to school violence.”
Casdorph is being held in Anchorage and will be transferred to Philadelphia in the near future, McSwain said.
Officials did not disclose why Casdorph targeted Lafayette. Other gamers have been identified, however, and could also face charges, McSwain said.
