USF Grad Busted for Strange Bomb Threat
Former student implicates himself in 911 call, on Facebook
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Markenson Innocent
A USF graduate was arrested yesterday for Monday's bomb threat on the Tampa campus, after he bizarrely implicated himself in a 911 call and on his Facebook profile.
Markenson Innocent, 26, was arrested yesterday and charged with making a false report of a bomb against state-owned property for the threat that caused a three-hour campus shutdown.
Police said Innocent, using the name "Isiah Daniels," called 911 Monday and told dispatchers that a man named Markenson Innocent was at the USF library with a bomb and a gun.
But before the whole episode began, Innocent had already began updating his Facebook page, mentioning the threat and giving details that only the police and the person making the threat would know.
Police encountered Innocent in the library Monday as the lockdown was happening, but didn't hold him.
A few hours later, he wrote on Facebook: "This is getting a little (too) easy. I at least thought that they were going to pat me down, but they couldn't even look me in the eye. U waiting for me to lose it? I guess I'm just here for your amusement. Back home now after an adventurous day."
Then yesterday, shortly before his arrest, he wrote: "I hope they get my good side. I gotta look good when I walk out the house. When alone I ask myself, is it worth it?"
The odd behavior is out of character for Innocent, firends and former colleagues said.
"He had a very reserved, professional demeanor," said former boss Jack Gordon. "Very quiet. He kept to himself."
Gordon said Innocent worked in the administrative department of the Tampa law firm of Maney Gordon, but left in 2008.
Innocent, who majored in accounting at USF, is from Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood.
During the lockdown, Tampa police and S.W.A.T stormed the school, and text messages warning of the threat were sent by the school to the 56,000 students and staff at USF.
A couple hours after the initial threat, around 3:30 p.m., 23-year-old student Vincent McCoy was arrested after he stood up on a campus shuttle and said he had a bomb in his backpack. McCoy, who said it was just a hoax, also faces a charge of making a false bomb report.
Police said the day's events were highly unusual, to say the least.
"It does seem strange, yes," USF police Lt. Meg Ross said.
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