UST Student Made Bomb Threat Because He Didn't Do His Homework

TWIN CITIES, MN — A 21-year-old former University of St. Thomas student admitted in court to calling in bomb threats to the school. Ray G. Persaud, of Blaine, was convicted for one count of "using an instrumentality of interstate commerce to maliciously make a threat to damage and destroy any building, by means of explosives."

Persaud pleaded guilty on Sept. 22.

Officials say on three separate occasions in 2019 — April 17, Aug. 20, and Sept. 17, 2019 – Persaud called in to the university’s main switchboard and claimed there was a bomb on the St. Paul campus. He was an enrolled undergraduate student at the time.

"The three bomb threats caused substantial disruption to the University, including the evacuation of campus buildings and a child care center, rerouting of traffic on nearby streets, and a full response by the University’s Public Safety personnel," federal authorities said in a news release.

Persaud admitted he called in the bomb threats because he had failed to complete his homework and was unprepared for class.

Persaud pleaded guilty to count three of the indictment, which charged him with the Sept. 17, 2019 bomb threat. At the time of sentencing, the office of U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald will ask the court to dismiss the April 17, 2019 and Aug. 20, 2019 charges.