Jan. 21 bomb threat proves benign

Robert J. Jasper, 28, of 726 Koscivsko St., Peru, was charged with felony disorderly conduct at 8:10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 22 at IVCC.

Jasper’s arrest followed an investigation into him allegedly reporting on Jan. 21 that he had a bomb in his book bag. Jasper made the comment to a fellow student while he attended night class; however, no bomb was recovered.

While G4S security officials investigated the incident on Jan. 21, other college employees were notified of the incident for the first time on Jan. 22 through an e-mail from Fran Brolley, director of community relations and development.

Brolley’s e-mail included a statement by IVCC President Jerry Corcoran: “IVCC security investigated the student’s statement immediately and determined there was not a threat; the building was not evacuated.”

While IVCC has a policy for many emergency situations, there is no direct protocol for spoken threats, according to Scott Nuftul, supervisor of G4S security on campus; the security team uses their heads and approaches all situations with extreme caution. In this case, he said, the threat in general was very low.

“Oglesby police handled the matter very responsibly and this is another reason we are pleased to have them on our campus on a regular basis — they do a great job,” said Corcoran in a follow-up statement Jan. 22.

Cheryl Roelfsema, vice president for business services and finance, indicated that IVCC’s Immediate Action policies were reviewed and deemed adequate; however, the incident provides the opportunity to step up and retrain security staff on following procedures.

In correspondence with IVCC’s Student Code of Conduct, the student has been suspended pending an investigation and hearing, said Corcoran.

A hearing date was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28.