Bond set in campus threat case
Connor Stottlemyre
Connor B. Stottlemyre, the Northwest Missouri State University student accused of posting racist threats on the Yik Yak social media site last week, appeared in the associate division of Nodaway County Circuit Court Tuesday for a bond hearing.
Shackled and wearing orange prisoner clothes and rubber sandals, Stottlemyre, 19 of Blue Springs, was led into the main courtroom on the second floor of the Nodaway County Courthouse along with several other county jail inmates set to appear before associate Circuit Judge Doug Thomson.
With his parents sitting in the gallery, the defendant appeared with his lawyer, Maryville attorney Robert Sundell, who requested bond for his client, which Thomson set at $10,000.
Stottlemyre had been in jail for the past week since being placed under arrest Nov. 11 by university police at his campus residence hall.
Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice told the judge the state had no objection to bail, which Thomson granted on condition that Stottlemyre wear a GPS device programmed to track his position. The defendant was also ordered to stay off Northwest Missouri State University property and out of Nodaway County unless consulting with his attorney.
He will next appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 22.
Stottlemyre stands charged of exercising reckless disregard while making a terroristic threat, a Class D felony that, upon conviction, carries a maximum term of up to four years in prison.
In addition, Rice filed an alternative misdemeanor terroristic threat charge that, upon conviction, carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. In the event of a conviction, a jury or judge would have the option of finding Stottlemyre guilty on either count but not both.
Court documents allege that Stottlemyre posted a total of three messages on Yik Yak. The first, which appeared on the night of Nov. 5, read “I love evil, I just want to shoot up H&P (an apparent reference to Hudson-Perrin Hall on the Northwest campus) they’re all bullies especially in Hudson.”
Then on Nov. 11 Stottlemyre allegedly posted two more messages shortly after midnight. The first read, “I’m gonna shoot any black ppl tomorrow so be ready,” and the second stated, “I love evil, I can’t wait for Northwest to make the news tomorrow.”
Rice said the Nov. 5 post failed to attract immediate attention and was automatically removed by the site after attracting several negative responses.
The comments posted on the 11th, however, resulted in an undisclosed number of users calling the Northwest Police Department, which launched an investigation.
Campus police obtained a search warrant, and through Yik Yak were given an IP address associated with the messages, an approximate GPS location, and information about the device used, which turned out to be a smartphone.
According to court documents, the sending device for all three messages was located in Perrin Hall near the main entrance to campus. Documents further state that campus police used a university database to associate Stottlemyre with the smartphone used to post all three messages.
During a press conference following the arrest, Rice said there was no apparent connection between the Northwest incident and a similar episode that led to the recent arrest of Hunter Park of Lake St. Louis at a residence hall at the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla. Park allegedly made threats addressed to black students on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
Park’s alleged actions, combined with numerous reports of racial discord, led last week to the resignations of Tim Wolfe, former president of the four-campus MU system, and R. Bowen Loftin, former chancellor of the flagship campus in Columbia.
In an apparent response to Stottlemyre’s alleged actions and the situation at MU, Northwest President John Jasinski moderated a public forum on “issues with respect to social justice” Monday evening at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts.
