Man arrested for stalking University of Arizona student

TUCSON, Arizona – A Tucson man was arrested after authorities said he threatened to rape and murder a University of Arizona student on social media and then tried to have police beat her to death.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Caleb Alfred Tifft, 29, was arrested on May 8 by the FBI’s Southern Arizona Violent Crime and Gang Task Force.

Officials said Tifft began threatening and stalking the victim, a student at the university, on Feb. 7. At the time, Tifft sent her a message on the Facebook Messenger app in which he wrote, “I think I’m just going to go out and rape and kill a girl now. I give up. I’m the bad guy.”

The following day, a harassment restraining order was issued against Tifft, requiring him to have no contact with the victim.

The University of Arizona also banned him from its campus and facilities for one year.

Officials said that on March 1, Tifft continued his harassment of the victim by attempting to hit her.

Tiff called 911 and told the dispatcher that his friend was in a certain building on the University of Arizona campus and was planning to commit a shooting spree. The call was terminated before it could be transferred to the university police, but the phone number used to make the call was identified as Tifft’s number.

Later that same day, Tifft called campus police and claimed that his friend was in the same building as before and was planning to commit mass murder. In that call, he specifically identified the victim as the potential shooter and said she was in the campus building he identified. He then ended the call.

“A UAPD officer who knew Tifft from previous conversations listened to the recorded conversation and determined that the voice matched Tifft’s,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “The phone number associated with the conversation was the same one used to contact the PCSD.”

Tifft was charged with cyberstalking and transmitting interstate threats, both of which carry maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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