SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 22, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A University of Utah student has been charged with threatening terrorism after campus police say she claimed she would detonate a nuclear reactor if the Utes lost a football game scheduled for last Saturday night.
The threat was posted the same day as the game, Sept. 17, says a probable cause statement filed by the University of Utah police in the arrest of Meredith Lile Uluave Miller.
Miller, 21, was charged Wednesday on suspicion of threat of terrorism — weapon/intimidate, a second-degree felony. A judge set bail at $5,000. A records check shows Miller is not listed among current inmates.
The social media post was issued prior to the Ute’s Saturday home game against San Diego State. Utah defeated SDS, with a final score of 35-7.
According to Miller’s probable cause statement, the suspect knows the location of a nuclear reactor at the U.
“The A/P (arrested person) is an engineering student at the university and has knowledge of the nuclear reactor. The AP is aware of where the reactor is located and attends class in the same building where the reactor is housed.”
Prior to the game, “A/P posted threats of violence on social media (Yik Yak),” charging documents say.
It is unknown if Miller may have been joking, but her words were taken seriously by law enforcement agents.
Charging documents say Miller posted “that if the football team did not win the game, the AP was going to detonate the nuclear reactor that is located in the University of Utah causing a mass destruction.”
The U has a graduate nuclear engineering program. According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Utah has “no operating nuclear reactors or fuel cycle facilities other than mills.” Utah does have operating research and test reactors “at the University of Utah,” the site says.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as details are released.
