Man who threatened to bomb Lafayette College pleads guilty

An Alaska man who threatened to detonate bombs at Lafayette College in 2018, causing the Easton, Pa., school to move its graduation ceremony, pleaded guilty on Monday, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain announced.

Gavin Lee Casdorph, 21, of Anchorage, pleaded guilty to one count of willfully making false threats before U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith, who presided over the hearing in Easton via video teleconference.

Casdorph, who was charged in January 2019 and was scheduled to go on trial this week, posed as a radicalized Lafayette student on May 5, 2018, using the handle “BdanJafarSaleem” to post on Twitter that he planned to bomb multiple locations on campus, McSwain’s office said in a statement.

“He attached a letter to his tweets, falsely claiming that his grandfather had died, his girlfriend had broken up with him, and that he had found faith and healing in Allah,” the statement said.

“The posts also pledged allegiance to ISIS and included an image of the ISIS flag and a photograph of several firearms, with the caption: ‘Allah has graced us with these weapons of destruction to carry out his needs,’” according to the statement.

Casdorph also sent a mass email to members of the college’s admissions staff containing similar threats and imagery. The e-mail’s subject line said: “ISIS Will Prevail: Allah Is the True God.” Casdorph claimed that his name was “Brendan,” that he was an economics student at the college, and that he was retaliating for being mocked for his religious beliefs.

“He warned that when word spread of his plan and students attempted to evacuate, ‘They’ll be playing right into my plan. I have set up several pipe bombs, pressure cookers and nail bombs around the campus and I plan to inflict the most damage possible,’ ” according to the U.S. attorney’s statement.

Law enforcement officials quickly determined that the bomb threats were a hoax, but the incident caused fear on campus, and the college moved its graduation ceremony as a precaution.

An FBI investigation that spanned three states led to Casdorph, who was arrested in December 2018 and later admitted what he did, officials said.

Casdorph used the dark web browser Tor Project to set up his fake Twitter account after getting into an argument with an online gamer, McSwain’s office said.

He further tried to hide his identity by giving Twitter a phone number he purchased from a Florida company that sells numbers to individuals who want to set up social media accounts without providing their real contact information, the office said.

“Gavin Casdorph is a dangerous man whose internet threats have real-life consequences,” McSwain said in a statement. “He thought he could cover his tracks by using phony information to register his Twitter account and an anonymous web browser. He was wrong. The local and federal law enforcement agencies tirelessly working this case did not stop until the trail of evidence led them to Casdorph’s door.”

“Making false threats online isn’t some harmless goof. It’s selfish, shortsighted — and a crime,” Michael J. Driscoll, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, said in a statement.

A sentencing hearing date for Casdorph had not been set as of Monday afternoon.