A Tucson man was arrested on May 8 on suspicion of stalking and threatening a student at the University of Arizona.
On Feb. 7, the man, identified in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, as 29-year-old Caleb Alfred Tifft, allegedly sent a threat via Facebook Messenger to the victim that read “Think I’ll just go rape and kill a girl at this point. I give up. I’m the bad guy.”
Tifft was served with an Injunction Against Harassment the next day, which prohibited contact with the victim, the news release said.
But Tifft continued to cyberstalk the victim, the news release said. On March 1, Tifft allegedly made an anonymous 911 call to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department , saying his friend sent him a message that the friend was going to commit a mass shooting. Tifft also said the friend was at a University of Arizona building.
Tifft hung up before the call could be transferred to UA Police, but PCSD provided the number to UAPD and UAPD identified the number as that belonging to Tifft, the news release said.
UAPD received a transferred 911 call from Tucson Police Department later that day, with a similar message: that Tifft’s friend, the victim, was going to commit a mass shooting and that the friend was in a specific University of Arizona building.
A UAPD officer who had interacted with Tifft in the past, listened the recorded call and determined the voice matched Tifft’s voice. The number used to call TPD, was also the same number used to contact PCSD.
Tifft turned himself in to the FBI on an indictment warrant.
Tifft was arrested on suspicion of cyberstalking and transmitting interstate threats.