Ryan Chartrand
See the UPD press release here
Cal Poly computer engineering freshman Francisco Diaz is in custody for making criminal threats in an e-mail to students and faculty Tuesday morning, police said.
Diaz, 18, allegedly sent the e-mail on another person’s e-mail account at around 11 a.m. Officials arrested the owner of that account quickly after the e-mail was sent, but found that they hadn’t found the true suspect.
Police said the e-mail contained threats of violence and harm, but would not go into any specific details about the threats.
Diaz’s motivation for sending the e-mail and whom specifically he sent it to is still under investigation, police said.
“We responded very quickly and seriously to the situation to avoid anything similar to what has happened around the country,” University Police Department Chief Bill Watton said.
The University Police Department informed all Cal Poly students and faculty through e-mail at 3:50 p.m. and requested any information about his whereabouts.
A Cal Poly community service officer located Diaz on Mountain Lane between Santa Lucia Hall and Lassen Hall on campus at around 4:30 p.m. He was later apprehended by campus officials.
Police would not comment on where Diaz allegedly sent the e-mail from, but the security camera images released by police appear to show the suspect in the El Corral Bookstore. The computers in the bookstore do have Internet access.
Diaz is a member of the Cal Poly Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
He is being booked in the San Luis Obispo County jail on two charges of making criminal threats and unlawful access of a computer. His bail is set at $50,000.
Student and faculty are asked to contact Cal Poly University Police at 756-2281 if they have received the e-mail threats.
The Mustang Daily also asks that anyone who received the e-mail to forward it to mustangdaily@gmail.com.