A Cleveland County jury has found Daniel Fontenot guilty on both charges stemming from a string of threats that rattled the Norman area, including vows to bomb the county jail and a downtown Oklahoma City tower, drive his vehicle through the State Fair, and kill three public officials. Jurors recommended a 30-year prison sentence for Fontenot.
A Call That Triggered Multiple Threats
According to KOKH, Fontenot was charged with planning to perform acts of violence and with threatening to use an explosive device to damage or injure persons or property. The charges trace back to a call police received from a suspect identified as Fontenot, in which he threatened to bomb the Cleveland County Detention Center and the Devon Tower. As reported by KFOR.com, dispatchers at the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office logged the call on Sept. 20, with Fontenot warning that he was going to bomb the Cleveland County Detention Center and the Devon Tower.
The threats didn't stop there. KFOR.com reports Fontenot also said he would drive his vehicle through the State Fair if authorities failed to take him seriously. He went further, telling dispatchers he could kill Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn, Judge Thad Balkman, and then-Sheriff Chris Amason if he was not arrested.
'He Wanted to Be Arrested'
Reports indicate Fontenot said he only wanted to be arrested, a detail that stands alongside the litany of threats he made against officials and public sites across the community. Per the same reporting, Fontenot was ultimately arrested on a complaint of plan, attempt, or conspiracy to perform acts of violence, along with a threat to use an explosive device to damage or injure persons or property. The station's account notes he was arrested at a hotel in Oklahoma City.
Authorities pursued the case through trial, and on Wednesday, the Cleveland County jury found Fontenot guilty of both charges connected to the threats against the jail, Devon Tower, the State Fair, and the three named officials. Jurors recommended that Fontenot serve 30 years in prison, according to the article authored by Kimberly Querry-Thompson for KOKH.
