By Michael Donoghue
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
BURLINGTON, Vt. — A Michigan man, who was convicted for threatening to “shoot up” Green Mountain Union High School in 2019, was ordered jailed Friday in Vermont after he admitted he violated the terms of his federal supervised release sentence for the second time in recent months.
Jason Graham, 26, of Holland, Mich. had been placed on two years federal supervised release in December 2021 after pleading guilty to threatening over Facebook to target the union high school in Chester on February 4, 2019.
He subsequently admitted in May that he violated five conditions of supervised release. Chief Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford in Burlington postponed sentencing for a month to allow him to get access to a mental health evaluation from the U.S. Probation Office in Michigan. The judge eventually sentenced Graham to the three months he had been detained, along with another 120 days. Crawford agreed Graham would be released July 8.
The release plan did not go well.
Graham arrived more than 90 minutes late for his court hearing on Friday afternoon. He then admitted he had violated two of three conditions imposed in June, including failing to report to a halfway house in Grand Rapids, Mich. on July 9 to help him with re-entry into society. He was due for admission at the Cherry Health Alternative Program, a residential reentry center, records show.
Graham also admitted to violating a prohibition against using electronic or computer devices capable of accessing the Internet before a safety use plan could be developed and approved.
The federal government agreed Friday not to proceed with a third violation: failing to allow monitoring software on his phone on July 21.
Graham and Assistant Federal Defender Mary M. Nerino both asked he be allowed to return to Michigan pending sentencing. Graham said he wanted to be able to keep his job and get the case behind him, but Crawford said he believed jail was now appropriate.
Crawford had started the hearing saying he was always happy to see Graham, but “I didn’t want to see you so soon.”
Crawford said he would explore having the entire case, including federal supervision by the probation office, transferred to Michigan. The judge said he hoped to move the case forward quickly for sentencing.
Crawford, known for his gracious welcoming of defendants and lawyers to court, said he looked forward to seeing Graham soon.
Graham made it clear to the judge he wasn’t.
“I’m not looking forward to it,” Graham said in part as deputy U.S. marshals moved into the take him into custody. He was lodged at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans shortly after 5 p.m.
Graham, formerly of Three Rivers, Mich., faces up to two years in prison for the two violations, Crawford said during the hearing.
The whole case began to unfold following two incidents in February 2019 involving Green Mountain Union, which covers a handful of towns in the Chester and Cavendish area.
Graham was initially named in a two-count indictment in Vermont for using a Facebook group chat on Feb. 4, 2019 to threaten to “shoot up” the union high school attended by two targeted students.
The second felony charge was for phoning in a bomb threat to Green Mountain Union and threatening to shoot students on Feb. 7, 2019, records show. It was later dropped as part of the plea bargain.
Graham was in state custody in Michigan on other charges at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, Mich. when he was eventually indicted in Vermont on July 23, 2020, records show.
Because of charges in Michigan, Graham never made it to Vermont for his federal arraignment until June 16, 2021 when he initially pleaded not guilty to the two charges.
Investigation of his Facebook account for February 2019 revealed GMUHS was not the only school he had threatened at that time, court records show.
Chester Police, assisted by Vermont State Police, quickly began investigating the first complaint when a student learned about a threatening online message targeted at him at school, investigators said at the time.
The threat was eventually traced to Michigan, and late Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 authorities there took Graham into custody on a parole violation related to possession of firearms, drugs and alcohol, police said.
According to Michigan law enforcement, Graham was on parole for escape from a work crew, with underlying charges of retail theft and carrying a concealed weapon, police said.
While Chester Police investigated the threat reported by a student, the second case surfaced. It was about 11:30 a.m. Feb. 7, 2019 that Green Mountain Union received a call from a person who made threats of violence toward the school, including reporting a bomb in a backpack in a boys bathroom.
The caller said there was a shooter outside to shoot students as they left school. The school was placed in lockdown as police responded. Police searched and cleared the bathrooms and eventually students were escorted to the American Legion Hall.
The Vermont State Police Bomb Squad and explosives detection K-9s were utilized. No explosive devices were located.
The five initial violations of his supervised release included failing to report to his probation officer after his sentencing. Graham also admitted he had improperly gained access to the Internet just four days after sentencing when he had been ordered to stay away from the Internet until a proper monitoring and use plan could be established by the Probation Office.
When the eventual computer monitoring plan was implemented, Graham violated another term of his release when it stopped working and he failed to get it re-installed when ordered by probation, records show.
The other two violations centered on Graham leaving Michigan without pre-approval from probation and going to West Virginia, where he was cited for driving without a license by the Jackson County (WV) Sheriff’s Office. His release terms included committing no new crimes.
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