FILLMORE, Utah, May 3, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A 58-year-old man was booked into the Millard County Jail Thursday after sheriff’s officials say he yelled at guests and employees at the Best Western Hotel, threatening to kill them, and told one employee that “he killed Osama Bin Laden, works for the CIA, and will kill her as well.”
According to a probable cause statement filed by an officer of the Millard County Sheriff’s Office, a guest told deputies she heard the suspect, Lawrence Frassoldati, yelling that he was going to kill “the Mormons.”
Another guest reported seeing the man exit the room “with a rifle slung over his shoulder and confronted the victim, telling him to ‘come at him,’ and that he would kill him as well as everyone in the hotel.”
Frassoldati also tried to choke an officer trying to take him into custody, the statement says.
Frassoldati was booked into the Millard County Jail, and faces charges of:
- Aggravated assault targeting law enforcement with bodily injury, a first-degree felony
- Threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony
- Disarming a police officer — energy device, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Three counts of assault on a peace officer or military service member in uniform, a class A misdemeanor
- Interference with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor
- Possession of a controlled substance, marijuana/spice, a class B misdemeanor
- Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor
- Intoxication, a class C misdemeanor
Frassoldati’s probable cause statement, filed by an officer of the Millard County Sheriff’s Office, says officers were called to the hotel, and they approached the door of the room rented by the suspect.
“I could smell and odor consistent with marijuana use coming from the room,” the officer’s statement says. “I knocked on the door of the room and the suspect stated that if we entered the room, ‘You would be mine.'”
The suspect then exited the room, “with a marijuana pipe in his hand that he was attempting to light,” the probable cause statement says.
“As I was speaking with the suspect, he was very agitated. I came up the stairs and he assumed a stance with his fists in the air, like he wanted to fight us. We told him we did not want to fight him, and he began to approach us in an aggressive manner, and the deputy assisting me deployed his Taser.
“The suspect began to fall to the ground, and kicked one of the deputies in the chest causing him to stumble backwards,” the probable cause statement says. “I then grabbed the suspect’s arm in an attempt to get him into custody. The suspect grabbed me around the throat in an attempt to choke me. During the incident, his fingernails dug into the skin on my neck, scratching me and causing me to bleed.”
Officers got Frassoldati into restraints and assisted him to his feet, the statement says.
“He told me that he could have killed me when he tried to choke me,” the officer’s statement says.
A pipe with a leafy green substances was located in Frassoldati’s pocket, and “tested presumptive positive” for marijuana, the statement says. After a search warrant was issued for the room, officials located a high-powered .357 caliber air rifle by the door. Five hundred rounds of ammunition for a .22 caliber high powered air rifle were also found in the room.
A search warrant served on the suspect’s car turned up more marijuana, lighters, and 250 rounds of ammunition for the .357 caliber air rifle, and a second .22 caliber air rifle.
Frassoldati was booked into jail, where he is being held without bail.
