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A tenured psychology professor at Texas Christian University remained Thursday in a Texas jail, arrested on charges that he made a "terroristic threat," a class B misdemeanor.
Charles F. Bond Jr., 53, was arrested at his home last week by Fort Worth Police after officers received a warrant by TCU Police detailing charges against the professor. A statement from the university says that Bond “exhibited extremely inappropriate conduct and made threatening remarks to some campus members.”
Lawyers for Bond said in a statement that the professor has "earned an outstanding reputation at TCU," and that they have seen no evidence that shows Bond threatened anyone.
According to police reports, Bond hinted in an e-mail about bringing a submachine gun on campus. An arrest warrant affidavit cited by The Dallas Morning News said that Bond sent out harassing e-mail messages to a number of university employees last month, and made a statement saying he would spit in a colleague's face. TCU officials would not confirm that those allegedly targeted were employees, nor would they expand on the nature of the alleged threats.
According to the affidavit, TCU already was investigating Bond and had asked him to stop communications with anyone at the university. When TCU officials requested that Bond meet with them, he refused, according to the affidavit. Then, last week, he allegedly sent an e-mail stating: "Is it possible a sexist could snap and bring an ouzi [sic] gun on the TCU campus? Might he target young women? Might others get in the way?”
Bond's lawyers said that Bond "has had some health issues lately that may have hampered his ability to effectively communicate his message, and perhaps he was misinterpreted." Patrick J. McLain, one of the lawyers, said the case "bears little to no resemblance to the Cho case at Virginia Tech."
Bond has taught at TCU for more than 20 years. According to his university Web page, he specializes in quantitative psychology and social psychology, with a research emphasis on deception, which he says has drawn interest from the FBI and CIA.
Bond taught a fall course called "The Truth About Lies," which, according to the syllabus, focused on the psychology of human deception.
