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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury has returned an indictment against a Salt Lake man alleging he made violent threats against government agencies, including a reference to the 2007 Trolley Square shooting, via Facebook and e-mail.
Mark Eric Bayne, 36, was charged Wednesday in U.S. District Court with three counts of threats in interstate commerce. Each count carries up to five years in prison. Bayne remains in custody in the Davis County Jail and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
According to the felony complaint, Bayne sent threatening e-mails to state, federal and private institutions and universities from a computer at Salt Lake Community College. He also posted threats on his Facebook page, the complaint says. In those e-mails and posts, Bayne expressed deep-seated anger toward government agencies and a desire to retaliate against those he believes have wronged him, according to the complaint.
The first count stems from an e-mail Bayne allegedly sent to Utah State University addressed, "To whom it may concern: Workplace Shootings." The body of the e-mail read in part, "You only see these tragedies as a business expense. There will be new targets selected that you will find too expensive to justify the enslavement of men for the amusement of whores."
An e-mail referenced in the second count sent to the U.S. Department of Education includes the statement, "The hope is that they will frustrate men into dropping out of grad school and eventually getting a weapon; anticipating that I will become so embittered I would seek to exact revenge by shooting innocent random people or using my education to create an explosive device. Shootings have happened before here in Utah (see: Trolley Square)."
A gunman opened fire at the Trolley Square shopping mall in February 2007, killing five people and injuring four others before police shot him to death.
Bayne's alleged e-mail goes on to say, "Then the story would be that some crazed Negro veteran off his medication unable to achieve success decided to seek a suckers way out. All I ask is that you create a Wiki page in my memory with the real story."
The third count in the indictment relates to a Nov. 26 post on Bayne's Facebook page that reads: "These are the worst form of humanity (Utahns [sic] and Subversive Mormons and their whores) right along with them [sic] monkeys in Georgia. In retaliation: Take at least thirty of their women and children (at the cost of each man) EVER DAY [sic]. Effective Primary Targets: … Logan."
The list of targets is blacked out in the indictment. Federal prosecutors asked the court to redact them from the court document, said Melodie Rydalch, U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
