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A former George Washington University mailroom employee was charged last week with threatening the school, according to D.C. Superior Court documents.
James Ripley Markley Jr. made unspecified threats in a phone call and was arrested on Feb. 15, according to a GWU Crime Alert. Markley is charged with threatening to injure or kidnap a person.
Markley said in the phone call that he would “kill faculty and students,” according to an affidavit.
Markley, 53, told City Desk that he called the university but denied making any threats. “I didn’t say no such thing,” he said.
The GWU employee Markley allegedly spoke to declined to comment.
Markley, who worked in GWU’s mailroom from 1986 to 1992, said a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District confiscated bullets and a BB gun found in his home. The bullets belonged to Markley’s father, according to Markley, who stressed that he did not have a gun.
The GWU Crime Alert urges students who see Markley on campus to call the university’s emergency number and mentions the possibility of increased campus police presence in some areas of campus. University police declined a request for immediate comment.
Markley was released Tuesday on his own recognizance, on the condition that he report for a mental health evaluation and stay away from the university.
Markley, who said he was going to visit the campus to buy a GWU sweater, said he’ll now have to send someone else in his place.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 8. Markley is pessimistic about his prospects in the case. “If they bribe the judge, I guess I’m going to prison,” he said.
UPDATE: GWU Assistant University Police Chief Frank Demes confirmed in an e-mail to City Desk that Markley was a mail room employee from 1986 to 1992. The crime alert was sent to GWU faculty and staff as a precaution, according to Demes.
Photo from GWU Crime Alert