BOSTON, April 23, 2014—A student at the University of Massachusetts Boston was held on high bail today after his arraignment on charges that he called in two bomb threats to the school’s Dorchester campus within five days of one another, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DEAN BECKFORD (D.O.B. 11/7/84) of Somerville was formally charged with two counts of making a bomb threat. Judge Lisa Grant imposed $20,000 cash bail and, at prosecutors’ request, ordered that Beckford wear a GPSD device and surrender both of his passports to the court if he posts that amount.

The first call was placed to a reception desk in Wheatley Hall at about 12:35 pm on April 17. The male caller stated that the building needed to be evacuated because of a bomb. After students and faculty were safely out of the building, Boston and State police K-9 units swept the building for explosives and found none.

Officers and detectives of the UMB Department of Public Safety were able to identify the phone number from which the call was placed. That number belonged to a pay phone at the Davis MBTA station. Department of Public Safety personnel worked with MBTA Transit Police to gather footage from public safety cameras at the station.

The second call was also placed to Wheatley Hall and came in at about 12:45 pm on April 22.  As with the first threat, the male caller stated that there was a bomb in the building and that people inside should leave. Investigators tracked this call to a pay phone on Tremont Street near the Park Street MBTA station.

Based on their review of footage from Davis station, comparison of that footage from cameras on campus, and input from school faculty, UMB Police had by this time identified Beckford as a potential suspect. At about 1:20 pm, they detained Beckford as he arrived on campus.

In a brief, post-Miranda statement, Beckford allegedly stated that he was “not doing so good” with his classes but did not directly address the threats he is accused of making.

Among Beckford’s possessions at the time of his arrest were receipts from businesses on Winter Street at Downtown Crossing, just blocks away from the pay phone from which the April 22 call was made. As with the April 17 call, investigators were able to recover surveillance footage suggesting that Beckford was in the immediate area of that phone at the time the call was made.

Beckford will return to court on May 19. He is represented by attorney Scott Lauer.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.