LEHI, Utah, Aug. 11, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A 21-year-old man was arrested after allegedly making a terrorist threat against the Outlets at Traverse Mountain in Lehi, which he later said was a “prank.”
A probable cause statement from Utah County said Colton John Shay Cox, from Draper, is facing a charge of threat of terrorism, a third-degree felony.
The statement said Wednesday at approximately 6:20 a.m., the outlets received a voice mail message before the business opened for the day.
“The message was given to the shopping center’s administration who contacted the police,” the statement said. “In the message, the male individual attempted to conceal his voice by using a foreign accent. The male addressed the business and told them not to hold an upcoming shopping event on ‘my soil.'”
He said that if the outlet did not cancel the event, “bad news to come to you.” The man also added: “you won’t even see it coming.”
The shopping center grew concerned and began to put emergency protocols into place in order to protect the public that would be attending the upcoming event, the statement said.
“I met with the administration of the shopping center and obtained a digital copy of the voicemail message as well as the phone number that phone call came in from,” the statement said. “Through our investigation, we found that the phone number belonged to Colton John Shay Cox, out of Draper.”
Two detectives responded to Cox’s residence and transported him to the Lehi Police Department to be interviewed about the voice recording.
“Through our interview, Colton admitted to making the phone call in the early morning as a ‘prank,'” the statement said. “Colton advised that he chose this shopping event because he saw an advertisement on a billboard on the freeway. Colton also stated that he didn’t agree with ‘their’ political views. Colton told us that he had made a mistake and shouldn’t made the call.”
Cox was transported to Utah County Jail with his bail set at $5,000. He has since posted bail.
