Published: December 19, 2008 11:14 pm      

Man sentenced in UCO bomb hoax

OKLAHOMA CITY — OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Tuttle man was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Friday for falsely reporting a plot to bomb the University of Central Oklahoma, authorities said.

U.S. Chief District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange also gave Jason Ray Shandy, 19, three years of supervised released during his formal sentencing hearing.

A grand jury indicted Shandy in May and he pleaded guilty in June.

In open court, Shandy acknowledged he called Edmond Police April 22 and falsely reported that he had overheard three men talking about blowing up the university.

The school, Edmond Police, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office and the FBI investigated the report but found no bomb, U.S. Attorney John C. Richter said. Law enforcement authorities determined the report to be a hoax, but Shandy continued making false statements to law enforcement about the incident, Richter said in a news release.

“This sentence sends a message that the making of false terrorism hoaxes will have very serious consequences,” Richter said. “This defendant’s action substantially disrupted the operations of UCO and law enforcement.

“As the court found at sentencing, the university and responding law enforcement were diverted from their real mission and forced to devote substantial time and resources chasing ghosts in the dark.”

Shandy also must pay more than $21,000 in restitution.