The view of The ‘Shoe from a drone’s point of view. Credit: Courtesy of Joshua Cheston

Daniel Rippy was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio after threatening a shooting during the Ohio State-Michigan football game in 2018.

Rippy sent the threat via Facebook Messenger to Ohio State about 30 minutes into the game, according to court records. The game was held in Columbus, with more than 100,000 fans in attendance at Ohio Stadium.

“Law enforcement officials at the stadium were placed on high-alert and resources reallocated to investigate the threat,” U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David M. DeVillers said in an Oct. 7 sentencing memorandum.

Police were able to determine that Rippy made the threat from California and didn’t pose a danger to Ohio State, DeVillers said.

“Your school is going to get shot the f— up,” Rippy said in the message. “I’m seriously going to hurt the students and all the players from the football team.”

Rippy also threatened to harm players’ families and then-head coach Urban Meyer.

Rippy is a Michigan fan, according to court records. He grew up in Michigan and later moved to Livermore, California.

DeVillers said Rippy was under probation at the time of the threat. He was previously convicted of domestic assault, failure to obey the lawful order of a police officer and providing false information to a police officer.

Rippy pleaded guilty to “transmitting a threat in interstate commerce” July 1. He faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. No fine was imposed, but Rippy was sentenced the maximum three years of supervised release in addition to the one year and one day imprisonment.

Rippy told attorneys that he intended no actual malice and simply became riled up during the game, but DeVillers said that this does not diminish the severity of the threat.

“The privilege of engaging with the world online comes with great responsibility,” DeVillers said. “The message must be sent to Rippy, and others, that threatening harm to persons – even if no harm is done — will not be tolerated and can result in time in prison.”

The football game was largely uninterrupted by the threat, and the Buckeyes went on to beat the Wolverines 62-39.