New Charges Against Man Who Stalked Relatives Of Theater Shooting Victims
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A Portland man who earlier pleaded guilty to stalking and phone harassment of relatives of people killed in the Aurora, Colo., theater shooting has now been accused of making more than 30 menacing calls aimed at Portland police and Multnomah County agencies, law enforcement officials said Friday.
County and city detectives and the FBI have identified the caller as Kevin Purfield, who was arrested Thursday in Long Beach, Calif., sheriff's Lt. Steve Alexander said.
A federal grand jury in Oregon has indicted Purfield on two counts of conveying a hoax bomb threat, Alexander added in a telephone interview.
Purfield, 45, was sentenced in June to a year's probation in connection with the Colorado harassment, The Oregonian reported.
Twelve people were killed and 70 injured in a July 2012 attack at an Aurora movie theater.
In his earlier calls, Purfield told relatives of the dead that the killings didn't happen.
Alexander says Purfield disappeared a few months after he was sentenced, and then the new calls started.
The indictment alleges Purfield claimed late last month and early this month that bombs had been placed at the Multnomah County justice center.
In Long Beach, Purfield tried to run from city police and resisted arrest Thursday, Alexander said. Officers there zapped him twice with a stun gun. He was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and taken to the Long Beach city jail.
Long Beach police also are investigating threats the man is accused of having made at a Travelodge there, Alexander said.
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