Woman with ‘outstanding medical bill’ faces charges after bomb threat at U of U Medical Center
Nov 10, 2024, 12:26 PM
FILE — (Sebastian Duda, Shutterstock)
(Sebastian Duda, Shutterstock)
SALT LAKE CITY — A woman is facing a terrorism charge in 3rd District Court after a bomb threat was made to the University of Utah Medical Center on Tuesday, September 17, police say.
According to a booking affidavit, the medical center said sometime that afternoon, a caller, “who sounded male,” said a bomb would explode at the hospital in thirty minutes. The call only lasted 6 seconds.
University Police officers responded to the medical center and conducted a sweep of the building.
After a record check, the phone number was confirmed to be used by Macie Lynne Ctibor, who called the medical center three times between July and August, according to the affidavit.
Police traced the number back to Ctibor’s home address, but upon visiting were told by her father that she moved into her boyfriend’s house. He called his daughter on speaker phone with the officers present to tell her they wanted to speak with her.
On the call, “Ctibor stated that was weird, yelled for (her boyfriend) and disconnected the call,” the affidavit states.
When police then arrived at her boyfriend’s house, her boyfriend’s father answered the door, saying he was an attorney representing both his son and Ctibor. He said they would not make any statement.
“Ctibor exited the residence and rolled her eyes when detectives told her why they were there,” the affidavit states. “Detectives seized Ctibor’s phone for digital evidence processing.”
A search warrant was ordered for the download of her cell phone contents. The data showed Ctibor was frustrated regarding an outstanding medical bill owed to the University of Utah Medical Center, and that she had been under “significant stress” due to her inability to make payments. The affidavit said her boyfriend was aware of the bill and was also frustrated by it.
Also found on her cell phone data was a phone call made to the medical center at the exact time of the bomb threat, and the call time matched that of the threat exactly.
According to detectives, the call and data found on her cell phone were enough to indicate she made the call, and Ctibor now faces a third-degree felony charge for threat of terrorism, according to the affidavit.
The charge details and affidavit highlight the disruption to the building operations that the threat caused, including delayed surgeries and other patient treatment while the building was searched. The assistant director at the medical center told police the cost of the delay in patient care was more than $10,000.
