SIUE terror threat suspect jailed
EDWARDSVILLE -- A former Southern Illinois University Edwardsville student charged with threatening a "murderous rampage" has been jailed for allegedly attempting to buy a machine gun.
Olutosin O. Oduwole was arrested in Missouri on Tuesday for lying about his pending charges while trying to buy a .45-caliber semiautomatic machine gun earlier this month.
Oduwole is being held in a St. Louis jail until he can be extradited to Illinois, said Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for the Madison County state's attorney's office.
Prosecutors will ask that Oduwole be held without bond, Smith said.
Oduwole's attorney, Philip Dennis, said Oduwole is confused about what he allegedly did wrong and does not think he violated his bond.
Oduwole was a student at SIUE in July 2007 when campus police found a note in his car while impounding the disabled vehicle. Authorities said the note read "a murderous rampage" similar to the Virginia Tech shootings "will occur at another highly populated university" if Oduwole wasn't paid $50,000. "THIS IS NOT A JOKE!" it said.
Just four months before the incident, a student killed 32 people and injured 25 before committing suicide on the Virginia Tech campus.
Police later found a handgun in Oduwole's on-campus apartment. He has pleaded not guilty to making a terrorist threat, as well as charges of unlawful weapons possession, theft and computer fraud. A trial date has not been set.
Authorities released Oduwole in August 2007 on $100,000 bail. Dennis said Oduwole then moved to St. Louis, where he attended St. Louis Community College.
Prosecutors allege Oduwole violated his bond by attempting to buy a machine gun Oct. 18 in Hazelwood, Mo., at Capricorn Gun Repair, a licensed firearms dealer.
To complete the purchase, Oduwole was required to fill out a form on which he falsely answered "no" to the question, "Are you under indictment or information in any court for a felony or any other crime for which the judge could imprison you for more than a year?"
The charges may stem from firearm application paperwork carried over from last year, when Oduwole was making extra money by buying and reselling guns, Dennis said.
"I'm not sure that this is actually a case where he was attempting to carry out something new," he said.
Dennis said he could not confirm that Oduwole denied making the Oct. 18 purchase.
In the past, Dennis has said that Oduwole -- a U.S. citizen with a Nigerian passport -- is the victim of ethnic profiling. He said the note found by police is composed of lyrics scribbled by Oduwole, an aspiring rap artist.