Providence man arrested for alleged school shooting phone threat

A northern Utah man was booked into jail Friday after allegedly making a telephone threat about a planned school shooting to a Colorado resident.

The call was made Jan. 16 and warned of a shooting at Mountain Creek High School, Cache County sheriff's Lt. Brian Locke said. The call recipient reported the threat to local police, even though there's no high school with that name in the area.

Colorado officials traced the call to a home in Providence, Utah, Locke said.

Cache County detectives searched phone records from the home and found that dozens of calls had been made across the nation and internationally. During an interview, the 22-year-old resident acknowledged making the calls and to calling in the school threat to Colorado, Locke said.

It was not immediately clear whether other threats had been made, Locke said.

The man, who lives in the home with his mother, was arrested and booked into the Cache County jail, where he's being held for investigation of making a threats of terrorism.

Locke said the case would be screened with Cache County prosecutors next week for possible criminal charges.

jdobner@sltribl.com