Man who threatened to shoot up WVU pleads guilty

A man who threatened to shoot up WVU pleaded guilty on Monday and will be evaluated for 60 days before he is sentenced.
Clarence Steve Wright, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of terroristic threats. Wright was indicted by the January 2019 term of the Monongalia County grand jury on two counts. The second charge was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Holly Hinerman, Wright’s attorney, asked for a 60-day diagnostic and classification evaluation before he is sentenced. She said Wright has an extensive history of mental illness and a psychological evaluation showed some troubling results.
Wright told Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Susan Tucker he is bipolar and has depression. He also said he heard voices that told him to do violent things. It’s been more than a year since his medicine blocked the voices because his dose at the jail isn’t high enough, he said.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brandon Benchoff said the state was agreeable to the evaluation and thought it would provide important information before Wright’s sentencing.
Tucker ordered the evaluation after accepting Wright’s plea. Wright will be transferred to a facility that can perform the evaluation and will be sentenced in November. He has been in North Central Regional Jail in lieu of $7,500 bond since Sept. 21, 2018.
If the case had gone to trial, the state would have shown that on April 20, 2018, the West Virginia State Police received a call from a man who identified himself as Steve and said he was planning to shoot up WVU’s campus in the name of ISIS, Benchoff said.
He said the dispatcher that took the call alerted WVSP supervisors and WVU Police were notified because of the threat to the campus. The two agencies started investigating and found the call came from Wright’s residence. Records showed another call from that house to MECCA 911 threatened to shoot up a WVU football game about a month earlier.