CHICAGO – Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and John W. Richardson, chief of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Police Department, announced Feb. 22 the arrest of a 24-year-old Wheaton resident for making E-mail threats against the UIC campus. Mahtab Shirani was arrested, without incident, by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Chicago.

Shirani was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of making threats through use of interstate commerce, which is a felony offense. According to the complaint, an individual subsequently identified as Shirani, who is a student at the university, sent an anonymous E-mail to a UIC administrator threatening a repeat of the shooting incident that had taken place the previous day at Northern Illinois University. The threat stated that a group of five individuals would carry out the attack sometime during the spring 2008 semester. No reason was given for making the threat.

Subsequent investigation by the UIC Police determined that the threatening E-mail was sent from a computer in the campus computer laboratory. It was also determined the user ID for the computer in question was assigned Shirani. Additional investigation eventually led to the identification of Shirani as the individual responsible for sending this threatening E-mail.

Shirani appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan R. Nolan in Chicago during the afternoon, at which time she was formally charged. Shirani was released on bond, pending her next scheduled court appearance. If convicted of the charge filed against her, Shirani faces a possible sentence of up to 10 years incarceration.

In announcing this arrest, Mr. Grant wants to commend the UIC Police Department and administrative staff for the prompt and professional manner in which this threat was handled and investigated. “The school’s response to this threat not only led to the identification and arrest of the person responsible but also prevented widespread panic from sweeping the campus. The UIC community should be justifiably proud of their campus police force,” said Mr. Grant.

The Chicago FBI’s JTTF is comprised of investigators and officers from 15 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, whose combined resources and expertise are used to investigate and prevent potential terrorist incidents.

The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. _______________________________________________________________________

FBI Feb. 22, 2008 press release

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