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PSU Altoona students arrested for threats

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From Mirror staff reports

Two Penn State Altoona students face felony charges after making separate threats against students and the school, according to court documents.

About 3:55 a.m. Sunday, Logan Township police were made aware of a threat posted on Yik Yak about the Penn State Altoona campus. Police said Juan Kyle Nakamura, 19, of Naperville, Illinois, posted a message on the social media app that stated: "don't come to school monday if you want to live." Penn State students told university police about the post.

Logan Township officers, with assistance from Penn State University police, located Nakamura about 8:28 a.m.

He was taken into custody and arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones on a single felony count of terroristic threats. Unable to post $35,000 bail, he was remanded to the Blair County Prison. His preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 10 before Magisterial District Judge Matthew Dunio.

In the second case, Altoona Police were made aware of a second active threat regarding Penn State Altoona, also posted on Yik Yak. The post was made about 10:07 p.m. Sunday and stated: "This Juan gang y'all don't show tmrw I promise u s**t finna gonna go down u heard."

Police contacted Yik Yak's law enforcement team and were provided with a telephone number that university police then traced to Benjamin William Dous, 20, of Altoona.

Police went to Dous' home on the 100 block of North 12th Avenue where Dous admitted to making the threat, stating he pretended to be part of a gang and told students not to go to school on Monday. He said he was not feeling well, didn't want to go to class in the morning and was hoping class would be canceled due to the threat, court documents state.

Dous admitted to knowing about the first Yik Yak threat, police reported.

Dous was arraigned Monday morning before Magisterial District Judge Benjamin F. Jones on a felony charge of terroristic threats to cause evacuation of a building. He was released after his $35,000 bail was posted by a professional bondsman. His preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 9 before Jones.

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