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Bryan man charged in Texas State bomb hoax
[November 09, 2012]

Bryan man charged in Texas State bomb hoax


Nov 09, 2012 (Austin American-Statesman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Bryan man is facing up to 10 years in prison on a federal felony charge related to bomb threats Texas State University received last month.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday, Dereon Tayronne Kelley sent three threatening emails from his phone to a Texas State employee on Oct. 18, leading the university to evacuate three buildings.

"I will blow Texas State up to small pieces starting with the admissions office today at three central time," the first email read.

At 11:37 p.m., the Texas State employee received a second email that accused her of calling the police and threatened to "blow it up first thing in the morning." A third email sent early the next morning said: "I will not be arrested because they have no proof I did anything because I never brought the bomb on campus but I will tomorrow and they will not be able to find me because I'm at my house I hate Texas State for life the police better not come back here to my house either :) my family will not tell where I am at or whose desktop I'm on." The emails were sent from an account belonging to former Texas State student Brittany Henderson.



Bryan police arrested her on Oct. 23 on three charges of making a terroristic threat, a third degree felony, and three charges of making a false alarm, a misdemeanor.

Henderson told officers that she was in a relationship with Kelley, according to the complaint.


Text messages retrieved from her cellular phone show a string of messages sent from Kelley on Oct. 18 following an argument the couple had.

"You know what i am trippin hard baby i got pissd off now i gotta deal with it whenever you ready to talk to me i am sorry baby ilove you," read one sent at 7:08 a.m., nearly 15 minutes before the first bomb threat was sent to Texas State.

In texts sent later that day Kelley tells Henderson that he logged onto her email and asks her to give him "the police officer number," telling her he was wrong.

Federal prosecutor Mark McIntyre said he think Kelley acted alone in making the threats.

"The forensic evidence is pretty clear that the threats came from his phone," he said.

Kelley is also facing a charge of making a terroristic threat in connection with a bomb hoax Texas A&M; University received the day after Texas State was threatened.

That email, also sent from Henderson's account, said: "Campus will be bombed at twelve this afternoon." McIntyre said Kelley is not facing federal charges in connection with that incident because charges were already filed against him in state court.

Kelley will remain at a federal detention center in Houston pending trial, McIntyre said.

As of Friday, Henderson remained at the Hays County Jail. Her bail is set at $40,500.

Daniel Benitez, captain of operations for Texas State University's police department, said he didn't know about the federal charge against Kelley.

Asked whether charges against Henderson will be dropped, Benitez said: "Right now, nothing has changed." ___ (c)2012 Austin American-Statesman, Texas Visit Austin American-Statesman, Texas at www.statesman.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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