Chicago man indicted in SIU threat case

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A Chicago man accused of mailing threats of beheadings, bombings and other violence to Southern Illinois University's Carbondale campus is now facing fewer federal counts than when he was first charged.

A grand jury on Wednesday indicted 21-year-old Derrick Dawon Burns on four felony counts of willfully making a bomb threat. Each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

The indictment replaces a September criminal complaint that accused Burns of the four bomb-threat counts as well as four counts of making a threatening communication.

Messages left with Burns' prosecutors and defense attorney were not immediately returned.

Investigators allege that Burns sent threatening mailings over a yearlong span in 2012 and 2013, warning that he would carry out rapes, bombings and beheadings targeting SIU.