Federal government drops case against man accused of making false bomb threat at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. – The federal government has dropped an indictment against a man accused of making a false bomb threat at LSU that sparked a 12-hour evacuation of the Baton Rouge campus in September.

U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux (KAZ'-uh-yoo) Jr. on Wednesday announced the dismissal of the federal charges against 42-year-old William Bouvay Jr., of Baton Rouge.

Bouvay still faces a state charge of communications of false information of a planned bombing on school property. Cazayoux says a successful state prosecution would result in a considerably higher sentence, so the federal charge was dropped.

The state intends to charge Bouvay as a habitual offender. If convicted, he could get a mandatory minimum of 13 years, four months and a maximum sentence of 40 years. The federal charge carried a 10-year sentence.