Ex-UW student charged with threatening profs
A former University of WisconsinMadison graduate student was arrested in Michigan last weekend after allegedly threatening nine people on campus, emailing some about plans to kill their children and harassing others over social media for months, federal court records show.
Arvin Raj Mathur, 32, informed the group, most of whom work in the anthropology department, earlier this month about his plans to return from Denmark, where he is currently studying, to Madison for an “an evening of fun” on St. Patrick’s Day. He was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Friday and booked into the St. Clair County Jail on Saturday.
The arrest, first reported by the Detroit News, came just a few weeks after violence shook another Big Ten university, when a gunman killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University. In another case that highlights the safety risks at college campuses, a former University of Arizona student, who previously threatened members of the school’s hydrology department, fatally shot the department chairman on campus last fall.
Mathur’s attorney, Amanda Bashi, did not immediately return a request for comment Monday. She told the Detroit News Mathur is presumed innocent. He is scheduled for a detention hearing Tuesday in Detroit.
Federal prosecutors said Mathur “knowingly transmitted in interstate and foreign commerce communications containing threats to injure other persons.” The maximum sentence for the single charge is five years.
Complaint details Mathur’s threats to murder professors’ children
The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court Western Division of Wisconsin depicts a department dealing with a scary situation that had recently escalated despite Mathur leaving UWMadison in 2021 and enrolling in the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
Mathur’s former adviser recently told UW-Madison police Detective Peter Grimyser there had been numerous staff meetings about Mathur over the past few years. The professor cut ties with his student after the threats began and set up a junk folder specifically for Mathur’s emails to be routed because the messages were so upsetting.
Despite receiving a written order not to contact the adviser, the professor said he saw Mathur one day in the parking lot. He believed Mathur was there to physically assault him, but the professor had entered from a different access point so there was no confrontation.
The threats escalated in late February when the professor received an email from Mathur’s Gmail address. Mathur demanded his former adviser call the police or he would “murder every single person that you have ever been close to,” the complaint said.
In the same email, Mathur urged two others — a department fellow and a former UW-Madison staff member, who is now an assistant professor at UW-Milwaukee — to do the same. If not, he vowed to kill their children and hide their flesh inside hamburger meat.
The UW-Milwaukee professor told Grimyser he had received threats against his family from Mathur for months and had filed reports with local police where he lived and with UW-Milwaukee out of fear that Mathur would kill them.
Mathur threatened UW-Madison graduate students, complaint says
A UW-Madison graduate student and teaching assistant in the department told Grimyser that Mathur had been fixated on defaming him since last August. The student said Mathur filed inaccurate reports with the CIA, FBI and several foreign governments claiming he was a “Chinese operative,” even though the victim said his work required him to travel.
Another graduate student received an email from Mathur threatening to torture his family and make him watch,, the complaint said.
In another email, Mathur told an assistant professor in the department to report to police he was a foreign spy. If the professor didn’t comply, Mathur pledged to kidnap his daughters and skin them alive. The victim said he was disturbed by the email and scared for his family’s safety.
In one email, Mathur told an assistant professor to report to police he was a foreign spy. If the professor didn’t comply, Mathur pledged to kidnap his daughters and skin them alive.
A Feb. 21 email sent to a female professor contained the subject line: “We’re going to kill your family.” Mathur told her he would kidnap and put her in a cellar. If she didn’t contact police, she would wake up with her legs soaking in hydrofluoric acid, which can cause severe pain and deep burns.
The next day, UW-Madison Police asked Google where Mathur’s emails were being sent from. The company told police the geographic coordinates were coming from Copenhagen.
Mathur planned return to Madison
A representative for the University of Copenhagen confirmed Mathur is currently enrolled, but said the school couldn’t comment further on the case because it is “an ongoing HR issue.”
Mathur emailed all nine victims earlier this month about his plans to return to Madison on March 15 “to visit all of my best friends in the department.” He described a night of fun he’d planned for March 17, which included a picnic on Lake Mendota, a scavenger hunt and a diving contest.
“I think this would be a great opportunity to have a lot of fun,” Mathur wrote. “I can’t wait to see all of you guys!”
Grimyser learned on March 7 Mathur booked a flight from Copenhagen that would land in Detroit last Friday. Federal agents apprehended him at the airport.
UW-Madison Police said it takes threats “extremely seriously” and directed the campus community to a number of available resources, including training.
“Everyone can play a positive role in helping keep students, employees and the rest of our community safe,” the department said.
“In this case and in recent weeks, the quick action taken by law enforcement, in partnership with members of the campus community, demonstrates the presence and effectiveness of processes designed to protect public safety.”