Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A Provo man, Anthony Beardall, is charged with making terroristic threats.
- He is accused of threatening to blow up the Missionary Training Center and allegedly made multiple offensive calls.
- He faces similar charges in other cases but was recently found mentally incompetent for trial.
PROVO — A Provo man who police say has a history of making terroristic threats was charged Tuesday with threatening to blow up the Missionary Training Center.
Anthony Hambleton Beardall, 49, is charged in 4th District Court with making a threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony; and communication harassment, a class B misdemeanor.
On April 24, Beardall called the BYU Information Center and said, "You better shut down the (Missionary Training Center), or we're going to blow your (stuff) out of the water, baby. Do you understand? Jesus Christ never rose from the grave, OK? It's a lie. Stop pushing this … on the world," according to charging documents.
Beardall allegedly called the information line at least 10 times that day, stating each time that "the MTC needs to be shut down immediately and calling the operators profane and offensive names," the charges state.
The criminal charges come on the heels of two other similar cases filed since December.
- In December, he was charged with two counts of making a threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony, for calling 911 in Lehi and telling dispatchers they were going to be blown up by the CIA and that he was going to assassinate people, according to charging documents.
- In March, he was charged with four more counts of making a terroristic threat and other crimes for calling Provo police and saying "he was going to drop a nuclear bomb on the Provo Police Department and the state," charging documents say.
"In each of the calls, he threatened, harassed and attempted to intimidate dispatchers, the Provo City Police Department, local church leaders and government officials. Beardall called the Provo City Dispatch Center approximately 23 times," a police booking affidavit states.
One of those calls was made while a ceremony for fallen officers was taking place at Provo City Hall.
On May 5, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in the previously filed two cases. A competency review is scheduled for Aug. 11, according to court records.
