A guilty plea on Monday from the man arrested for threatening a staff member at St. John Fisher University in Rochester last year.
Shalom Mathew was accused of attempting to abduct the victim by threatening a knife with intent to tie up the victim and subject her to sexual contact to her breasts.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reports Mathews, while wearing a mask, walked into the university’s School of Pharmacy and initially sought help for library services. In court papers, the staffer said she gave Mathews directions to the library but he came back 15 minutes later and said he needed to talk with someone and insisted on closing her door.
Mathews is alleged to have said to the woman that he was failing all of his classes and he couldn’t go home because “his father would kill him” because of the grades. He eventually stood up from the chair and pulled a knife from his pocket while repeatedly saying “I’m sorry.” The woman said she stood up and grabbed Mathews’s right hand with her left hand and pushed him by hand until he hit the door and wall of her office. She was able to take the knife out of his hand and then pushed him into the hallway. The staff member was able to shut her office door which automatically locked and called 911.
WHEC-TV reports Mathews started interim probation Monday and will be sentenced on attempted assault and stalking charges. His next court date is Nov. 24.
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