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Valerie Joy Travis is charged with multiple felony counts of terroristic threats and related charges, said the District Attorney's Office on Monday, Aug. 14.
Investigators said that over a nine-month period, county dispatchers received 116 emergency phone calls from a number linked to Travis. None of the reported incidents were real, but each of them "required action by the Department of Emergency Communications and law enforcement," the DA said.
On 13 different occasions, detectives say the 43-year-old directly threatened mass shootings and bombings at public buildings and events. The list of targets, according to the affidavit of probable cause, included:
- Philadelphia City Hall
- The Del-Val Motel in Bristol Twp.
- Area LGBTQ Pride events
- The Village Lodge Motel in Bristol
- Bucks Magisterial District Courts in Morrisville, Bensalem, and Bristol
In one instance on May 30, authorities said Travis sent a text message to 911 operators threatening to bomb the "courthouse on Bath Road (...) in honor of (...) Patricia Travis."
Patricia Travis, the Bensalem resident's mother, was in court that day for an eviction-related matter, prosecutors noted. When the threat caused authorities to evacuate the courthouse, her eviction hearing was postponed to a later date, police said.
In another incident on Aug. 1, authorities said they received an anonymous tip via Crimewatch that a Latin Kings gang member had paid another person to "smoke" Judge Joseph P. Falcon.
Authorities said they tracked the Crimewatch tip to an IP address used by Valerie Joy Travis at her Bensalem residence.
She was taken into custody Monday and arraigned, where bail was set at 10 percent of $750,000, according to state court records. Travis is scheduled to appear for her preliminary hearing on Aug. 22.
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