PSU-Harrisburg Student Sentenced After Making Threats on MySpace

Martin C. Carlson, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced today that Steven A. Voneida, age 24, of Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by United States District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, for transmitting communication containing a threat to injure. Voneida was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment. With credit for time-served, Voneida will serve an additional 19 months in prison. On February 1, 2008, Voneida was found guilty following a jury trial.

According to U.S. Attorney Carlson, in the early morning hours of April 18, 2007, two days after the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Vonieda posted a photographic illustration on his personal MySpace page centered upon the Virginia Tech shooter accompanied by a poem paying tribute to the Virginia Tech shooter, entitled “the Ballad of Cho Seung-hui.” This posting appeared under the heading, “Virginia Tech Massacre: They got what they deserved.” In addition to these postings, Voneida, a Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg student, also threatened that “Someday I will make the Virginia Tech incident look like a trip to an amusement park.”

The week following the Virginia Tech killings, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania student visiting MySpace.com found these postings and contacted University Police. University Police in turn contacted the FBI, who with the assistance of the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Lower Paxton Police initiated an investigation.