This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Washington County man who has repeatedly made bomb threats has been sentenced to probation after admitting to saying he would kill President Barack Obama and the first family with a bomb.
Prosecutors said they worked with the court and defense attorneys to keep David Grant Torrey, 24, out of prison after his January threat against Obama, his family and White House staff.
Torrey wrote on a White House social media page that he would "detonate a bomb strapped to my chest," according to charges filed in 5th District Court, and he gave White House staff two minutes' notice about a bomb that was "a big enough bomb to kill everyone there right now YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED."
He later told officers he was cold and hungry and wanted a place to warm up and eat, said Rachelle Shumway, deputy Washington County attorney.
Shumway said Torrey's attorney tried to get the Hurricane man into mental health court, but was denied.
She said that is when she decided to try to resolve the matter in a way that kept Torrey out of confinement and funneled him toward receiving mental health treatment.
Torrey pleaded guilty to making a threat of terrorism, a third-degree felony.
"He has to complete his mental health treatment with Southwest Mental Health," Shumway said. "He also has to give his passwords to any probation officers."
Judge G. Michael Westfall sentenced Torrey on Feb. 22 to a suspended sentence of up to five years in prison and assessed a $43 fine.
Shumway said Washington County will likely work with probation officers in Iron County — where he was on probation for making threats — to keep Torrey out of prison.
In the Iron County case, Torrey went to the Cedar City police department last June and told officers he was going to have a mental breakdown after losing his wallet. An officer brought him to the Cedar City Hospital for an evaluation, and the department later received a call that Torrey had made violent threats.
Torrey wrote a letter saying he was going to blow up the hospital, flee to Salt Lake City where he would kill the governor before killing the president and flee the country to join ISIS.
Torrey pleaded guilty to third-degree felony count of attempted threat of terrorism, and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Iron County prosecutors asked that Torrey be released so that he could seek treatment at the state hospital, according to court documents.
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson