A former Mississippi State University student was arrested Sunday afternoon after he admitted to filing a false report with police that claimed he was assaulted and robbed in McCool Hall.
Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said the report of the assault and robbery was not filed until 3 p.m. Sunday, though the incident itself was said to have occurred an hour and a half earlier.
“There were suspicions from the beginning, that this report might not be truthful, but we erred on the side of caution and put out an alert,” Kibler said.
A Maroon Alert was issued via e-mail to the student population describing the initial report of a male being assaulted and robbed in the first floor bathroom of McCool Hall by two African-American men. The Maroon Alert was issued about an hour after the report was filed, giving descriptions of the two suspects and asking students with any information or details about the incident to contact university police.
The former student later admitted to falsifying the report and was arrested and jailed the same day, Kibler said.
Kibler said a Maroon Alert was issued via e-mail instead of text message because at the time, there was no immediate threat to campus security.
“With each incident, we have to determine the perceived level of threat to the campus community,” Kibler said. “We have limitations on the size of a text alert, which would not have allowed us to include the call for information or the cautions that were included in the e-mail alert.”
Although the former student was later given medical attention, there was no indication that any event occurred at McCool Hall Sunday afternoon, Kibler Said.
Campus Police Director Georgia Lindley said the incident is still under investigation.