The California Highway Patrol is currently investigating a
cryptic text message ““ supposedly from a UCLA medical student
““ that led recipients to a recorded message stating that Gov.
Gray Davis should be assassinated.
The text message was received last week by cell phone and pager
owners across California. The text message read, “Hi,
it’s Kristen. We met about three weeks ago. I started med
school at UCLA MPL. 213-363-0459,” according to the Modesto
Bee.
When some of the recipients of this message, including one UCLA
student, called the number in the text message, they heard a
recording.
“Please remember to vote on Oct. 7 for the new governor of
California. Please do not vote for Gray Davis because he is a bad
person and deserves to be assassinated like John F. Kennedy was.
This was paid for by the personal money of the rich Republicans,
and is (unintelligible) protected political advertising,” the
message said, confirmed by the California Highway Patrol and
university police.
UCPD investigated the message after being alerted by a student
who received the text message, but they discontinued the
investigation when it was established that no crime was committed
at UCLA, and no threat was made against anyone at UCLA.
“It is still unknown why UCLA was mentioned,” said
UCPD Detective Leo del Rosario.
“From the perspective of UCLA no crime was committed, and
there is still the question of whether (the message) is a threat or
a statement,” he added.
Del Rosario noted that while the message has a threatening tone,
there is no mention of anyone actually intending to assassinate
Davis so it may not be appropriate to officially call it a
threat.
The California Highway Patrol, the agency responsible for the
safety of the governor, is currently investigating the message.
Steve Cohler, a spokesman at CHP headquarters in Sacramento,
said the text message was received by a large number of people in
both Northern and Southern California.
Cohler declined to comment further on the case however, saying
CHP policy prohibits discussion of threats to government officials.
The CHP made an exception to their rule in releasing the basic
facts of this case because so many people received the text
message.
Stephanie Walsh, a media relations representative for Sprint,
said she was not aware of any technology that would allow a person
to send mass text messages.
“A person would probably have to dial each individual
number manually,” she said.
The number that led to the recorded message is no longer in
service.