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‘Suicidal man’ hears charges

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The 19-year-old man accused of provoking several University of Wisconsin buildings to lock down in late September was charged with escape and obstructing police Friday.

Dane County Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer, who was the prosecutor Friday, said Jesse A. Miller was charged with escaping police, a felony, after leaving the Dane County Jail for a medical appointment and not returning Sept. 8.

Miller has not been charged with crimes related to the Sept. 25 scare at UW because the UW Police Department has yet to file an official report on the incident.

“It’s not a huge rush because Miller is not going anywhere,” Verveer said. “He has jail sentence yet to serve.”

Miller caused the UW Hospital and a part of the UW campus to go on lockdown by calling police saying he was at the hospital parking ramp, armed and suicidal. He later followed with two other calls, one saying shots were fired and another issuing a bomb threat.

Police later confirmed Miller to be in San Diego, Calif., and arrested him Sept. 27, two days after the campus lockdown.

According to Verveer, Miller was charged with a misdemeanor for pretending to be his brother, Tyson Miller, and indicating Jesse Miller would be in a West Washington Avenue apartment.

“A cavalry of cops converges in this apartment, scares the living day out of the young man who lives there, police searched the apartment, and Miller wasn’t there,” Verveer said.

Madison police tracked the call to a Naval Academy Medical Center in San Diego, where the person who answered the phone kept him in sight until police arrived to arrest him, the Associated Press reported.

According to a police obstruction criminal complaint, Miller’s identity was confirmed after a fingerprint check.

Miller’s bail was set at $5,000 by Court Commissioner Todd Meurer, though he would not be allowed to leave even after posting the bail because he is serving a sentence, the Associated Press reported. He is currently in custody at Dane County Jail and will attend a preliminary hearing for obstructing police and escape later this week, Verveer said.

UWPD was not available for comment as of press time.