The former University graduate student who called in a bomb threat to the Knight Library in February was sentenced to 20 days in jail and 36 months probation Wednesday.
Lane County Circuit Court Judge Lyle Velure said James Gregory Evangelista could serve his jail time on the sheriff’s road crew, if desired, but Evangelista must complete and provide proof of mental-health treatment. Also, Evangelista is ordered to have no contact with the receptionist who answered the bomb-threat call and can’t enter the library without University permission.
The sentence mirrors a plea bargain reached between Evangelista and the district attorney’s office, in which Evangelista pled guilty to disorderly conduct, while avoiding charges of harassment and menacing.
At the sentencing hearing Wednesday, Evangelista told Velure he was sorry for what he’d done.
“I’m very embarrassed by this,” Evangelista said. “I’m very sorry to all the people my actions may have offended.”
Evangelista’s attorney, Bill Kent, told the court his client is strained by personal issues and the bomb threat was “quite an aberration in his life.” Evangelista has already been through the University disciplinary process and is close to finishing his master’s degree, Kent said.
Evangelista, who was studying special education, is not enrolled for fall term. He last attended the University at the end of winter term 2004.
Evangelista called a bomb threat to the Knight Library on Feb. 25, forcing the hour-long closure and evacuation of hundreds of library patrons from the building. According to the district attorney’s office, Evangelista called Knight Library receptionist Jeanette Lochbaum and, faking a middle-eastern accent and giving a false name, told her he placed a bomb in the building to protest President Bush’s administration.
Eugene police traced the call to a pay phone in the University Bookstore and pulled surveillance-video footage showing Evangelista on the phone at the time of the call.
An EPD investigation immediately following Evangelista’s arrest revealed that he called in the bomb threat to cancel class because he hadn’t done his homework.
However, in an e-mail to the Emerald, Evangelista wrote that the phone call was “certainly not a homework issue” and that his “prolonged abuse of ephedra” contributed to his decision to make the call.
“The tragic consequences of losing grasp on my reality due to the build up (sic) of this drug in my system and my poor judgement (sic) and choice making (sic) are only now unfolding for me,” Evangelista wrote.

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