***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1, 2016

MAN WHO THREATENED “MASS MURDER” AT LERNER THEATRE SENTENCED TO INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

On August 31, 2015, an employee of Elkhart’s Lerner Theatre received a voicemail from the weekend that threatened “mass murder” at the next concert. The Elkhart Police Department responded to the call and began investigating. Detectives with Elkhart Police Department were able to determine the number the threatening call originated from and were able to determine that the phone belonged to Thomas Townsend. Detectives obtained the phone records of Townsend’s phone and confirmed that it was Townsend who left the threatening message.

Charges of intimidation and public intoxication were filed against Townsend on September 17, 2015, and on March 9, 2016, Townsend plead guilty to the intimidation with all terms left up to the courts discretion, but the State agreed to dismiss the public intoxication charge.

At the sentencing hearing on March 30, Judge Lund of Elkhart’s Superior Court Four sentenced Townsend to the maximum sentence on a level 6 felony of 2 and one half years in the Indiana Department of Correction.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”