Multiple clowns spotted on USU campus

Creepy clowns have been seemingly all over the U.S. this past week, and they’ve now reached USU.

The USU Police Department has received three reports of clown sightings in the last week. Their names cannot be released because none were charged with criminal behavior.

The first clown sighting report was made on Monday at 4:30 p.m. from the Living Learning Community. A video clip of a person dressed as a clown was posted on social media and shown to the Campus Police.

“We made contact with the individual, spoke to them about their behavior, and pointed out that their behavior was causing some concern because of what’s happening across the country,” said Steven Milne, captain of the USU Police Department.

Because the person technically wasn’t breaking any laws, the police couldn’t make an arrest or citation.

The second report was from Mountain View Tower on Tuesday around 1:30 a.m. Police were notified about 45 minutes after the sighting.

“The officers weren’t able to find anything when they got there because it was a delayed report,” Milne said.

The third report was made Tuesday at 4 p.m. by a USU housing staff member. The staff member said they saw a clown in the cemetery parking lot and were concerned.

“We take all of our calls seriously, but at this point there is no criminal violation, so we are limited in what we can do,” Milne said. “However, if they do start to intrude or interrupt university events, they could possibly be facing criminal charges of disorderly conduct. We also ask those people to think twice about their behavior because it is causing concern.”

In addition to the USU reports, Logan city has also had a few reports about clown incidents, mostly online threats.

“We have seen a few threats from social media, but we are still working on investigations,” said Curtis Hooley, captain of the Logan Police Department.

One incident was reported Oct. 4 by someone at a middle school. According to the Logan City Police Department’s Facebook page, the student posed as a clown and threatened other students. The Facebook post said the student has been referred to juvenile court on two counts of Electronic Communications Harassment.

Because of the events happening around the country, several students have expressed concern.

“Some of my residents are scared because there are stories going around of clowns physically hurting people,” said Gorety Ramirez, a resident assistant in the LLC, where one report was noted.

None of these threats have resulted in violence.

“We do respond to these calls, but it does take time on law enforcement that could be used better elsewhere, so we ask people to use their best judgement in these situations,” Milne said.