Sarah Elizabeth Squitieri
Credit: Newtown Township police
A Doylestown Township woman was arrested Thursday for an alleged threat that closed Bucks County Community College’s Newtown Township campus last Wednesday.
Sarah Elizabeth Squitieri, 20, was arrested without incident on a warrant for threats to use weapons of mass destruction, police said.
Squitieri is accused of providing “false and misleading information concerning the alleged threat and that there was no credible threat to the community college,” police said in a statement.
Township police received an anonymous tip last Tuesday that a man named “Karl” had sent the tipster a group text message that he was planning to attack the community college’s Newtown Township campus with guns and explosive devices. The tip was reported to the community college’s security unit and classes for the next day were cancelled.
Detectives were able to identify the source of the anonymous tip as Squitieri and interviewed her. She allegedly provided information and details in contradiction to the information that she had provided through the anonymous tip to police, police said.
Further interviews, video footage, and phone records uncovered that Squitieri gave police false information, authorities said.
Newtown police and campus security were assisted by the Bucks County Department of Emergency Communications, Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, the FBI, and Doylestown Township Police.
The threat last Wednesday only impacted the Newtown Township campus. The campus reopened on Thursday after police deemed the threat not credible but raised many concerns for students who did not have further details on the origin of the scare.
Squitieri was arraigned before on-call District Judge Gary Gamberdella and remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on 10 percent of $100,000 bail. Her bail conditions included GPS monitoring if she was released from custody, no possession of firearms, no contact with the community college, and she is not to be within 100 yards of community college property.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
