ST PAUL, Minn. — A Minneapolis man has been charged with making threats through a university's incident reporting system.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota announced that Jeffrey Colin Purdy is charged with one count of threatening communication and was ordered to remain in custody pending a formal detention hearing, which is scheduled for Monday, Mar. 9. Purdy, 28, made his initial court appearance on Wednesday in St. Paul.
According to the allegations in the criminal complaint, the Mankato Department of Public Safety received a complaint from someone who said she had been receiving harassing emails from Purdy, a former classmate at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The complaint says the individual said they repeatedly declined repeated romantic advances from Purdy, and eventually blocked Purdy's number and his accounts on social media.
The complaint goes on to say from Aug. 30, 2017 through Feb. 21, 2020, Purdy used the university's Silent Witness Report, an anonymous incident reporting tool, to make violent threats against the individual.
An IP address used to make one of the Silent Witness Reports was traced back to Purdy, and on Feb. 29, during an interview with the Mankato Department of Safety, Purdy admitted to sending all the Silent Witness Reports.
