A Duluth man who police said threatened to bomb the local Charter Communications customer service building because he was unhappy with his Internet service was charged Thursday with making terroristic threats -- a felony offense.
Steven Paul Saari Jr., 27, was arraigned on the charge before Judge John DeSanto in State District Court. The defendant is free on supervised release until his next scheduled court hearing on Aug. 1.
Saari, an honorably discharged Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is accused of threatening to commit a crime of violence with the purpose of terrorizing Charter Communications employees, causing the evacuation of a building and creating a serious public inconvenience with a reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience.
Reached by phone late Thursday afternoon, Saari politely declined comment other than to say that he didn't believe he was in a "standoff" with police, as suggested in a News Tribune headline Wednesday that stated: "Standoff at Charter ends in arrest." The defendant declined to elaborate or to provide the name of his attorney to explain his actions.
Charter provides cable TV, Internet and telephone service in Duluth and surrounding areas.
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According to the criminal complaint:
Saari made telephone threats to Charter Communications in Rochester, Minn., and Duluth on Tuesday morning. A Charter dispatcher told police that she spoke to Saari for about 10 minutes around 7 a.m. She said the defendant was ranting and raving about the lack of Internet service at his residence and that he did most of the talking.
The dispatcher said that Saari said he was going to burn down the Duluth building or blow it up. She was unsure of what he exactly said. She passed the call to her supervisor, who described Saari's manner as agitated and ranting.
The supervisor said that Saari said something to the effect of "I guess I'm going to have to deal with the Duluth office by kicking down the door and blowing it up." She said that the defendant repeatedly said that he was an Iraq war veteran. A Charter employee then called 911 and started evacuating employees from the building at 640 Garfield Ave.
Police arrived shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday and set up a secure perimeter around the building.
The defendant was in a black Jeep outside the building. Police knew that Saari was a military veteran and that he had a permit to carry a handgun. They were able to make a phone call to Saari in the vehicle and he complied with instructions to get out of the vehicle and surrender.
