A 20-year-old North Carolina man has been charged with threatening violence against Saucon Valley School District staff and students last week, allegedly because of a planned extracurricular activity he disliked, the Northampton County District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.
According to a news release from District Attorney Terry Houck, Ceu “Van” Uk of Charlotte called Saucon Valley Middle School and left a voicemail in which he allegedly stated “I’m gonna come in there and shoot everybody” after hearing about the district’s controversial “After School Satan Club” on Facebook.
Lower Saucon Township Police responded to the district’s administration building to investigate the Feb. 21 phone call, Houck said, and the campus near Hellertown was subsequently closed until it was deemed safe for activities to resume on Feb. 23.
Police requested subscriber information for the phone number that was used to leave the voicemail, the release said, and later learned it was a prepaid Cricket phone registered to Par Iang of Charlotte. Investigators from Lower Saucon Township then requested assistance from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, who the district attorney said contacted with Par Iang and her brother, who they identified as Uk.
Ceu “Van” Uk has been charged with making terroristic threats against the Saucon Valley School District. (Credit: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)
When Charlotte Police responded to Uk’s home, Houck’s office said, they were told he was upset that police were there and refused to talk after providing his phone number.
“Police then spoke with a family member who advised police that Ceu Uk identifies as ‘Van’ and is the only one who uses the cell phone with the phone number used to leave the voicemail,” the release said.
“Police called Uk’s phone number and he denied leaving the message,” the DA’s office said. “However, upon further conversation, Uk confessed to leaving the message but claimed he didn’t mean it.”
In terms of idenifying a possible motive for the alleged threat, Houck’s office said Uk allegedly “stated the After School Satan Club is trying to turn kids into devils.”
“Given the nature of this alleged crime and the effect it has on our school communities, I would like to thank the Lower Saucon Township Police Department and Det. Eric Marth for their immediate and all-in response in bringing this investigation to a swift conclusion,” Houck said. “Their efforts display the seriousness in which they took this complaint.”
Houck also thanked the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for their assistance with the case.
After Uk was taken into custody by Charlotte Police Monday, he was arraigned on a charge of Terroristic Threats and sent to jail in lieu of $75,000 bail. As of Tuesday, his extradition to Pennsylvania is pending, the news release indicated.
Citing the disruption and security issues that followed the announcement of the After-School Satan Club’s formation, Saucon Valley superintendent Jaime Vlasaty said last week that she was rescinding the permission the group had received to meet on school property.
Sponsored by the Satanic Temple and the Reason Alliance, the club is unaffiliated with the district. It was granted permission to meet as a religious organization, as public school districts are legally required to host such meetings in order to comply with the First Amendment.
Further Reading:
- Look Beyond Name in ‘Satan Club’ Squabble: Op-Ed
- Prayer Vigil Planned in Response to ‘After School Satan Club’
Note: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This story was compiled using information from the Northampton County District Attorney’s office.
Reichwing irrationality as usual.
This guy probably hasn’t even read what the ‘After School Satan’ club will be teaching and discussing. But he’s willing to kill people over it. SMH
It is ridiculous, and illegal, that the result of this guy’s action is getting exactly what he wanted. The club should be reinstated, but I guess the terrorists win when they are the ‘good’ terrorists.