A man who threatened to shoot up West Virginia University was sentenced to prison this week.
Clarence Steve Wright, 51, was sentenced to serve one to three years in prison, by Chief Circuit Judge Susan Tucker, according to the Monongalia County Circuit Clerk’s office.
Wright pleaded guilty to one count of terroristic threats in August. He 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.
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, Assistant Prosecutor Brandon Benchoff said at Wright’s plea.
He said the dispatcher who 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.
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