Staff writer

sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com

A California man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on accusations he made a threat on the Internet to kill thousands of students at California University of Pennsylvania because the campus was too crowded.

Zachary Brett Buday, 21, of 422 Wilkins Ave., allegedly posted the threat on his MySpace account three months ago under a profile name, "Boot-Strap Bootie," Cal U. police stated in the criminal complaint.

Police were alerted Monday of the threat after an anonymous female called Washington County 911 to report the MySpace profile, which was marked private.

The home page showed a photograph and the following phrases: "There is no rewind in life ... so do what it do ... that Boot-Strap Bootie gonna kill 12,000 Cal U. students."

A state police computer crimes specialist was contacted and identified the same user's friends from a Yahoo account. Two of those friends who live near the campus were contacted, and one, Sydney Harris of Coal Center, led authorities to Buday.

Harris also told police that Buday had said he was kicked out of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for poor grades and a drug and alcohol problem. Buday also told Harris that Cal U. had denied his application to attend classes at that campus, which actually has about 8,000 students.

The university had yet to act on Buday's admission application but was aware of "excessive violations," court records show.

Police searched his residence Tuesday and seized computer equipment but didn't find any weapons, explosives or dangerous chemicals.

Meanwhile, the university brought extra security onto the campus and notified students about the threat as they began to return to classes Monday for the spring semester, police said.

Campus officials "determined that at no time were the university, its property, its students or employees endangered," Cal U. spokeswoman Angela Burrows stated.

When Buday arrived at his residence Tuesday, he confessed to posting the threat after becoming frustrated because of increased traffic in the borough when students turned out for the fall semester. He also said he never intended to carry out the threat, police stated in the affidavit.

By Tuesday afternoon, Buday's MySpace threat had been removed and replaced with "Boot-Strap Bootie loves CUP Public Saftey."

Buday was charged with terroristic threats and placed in Washington County Jail on $50,000 bond set by District Judge Larry Hopkins.

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