Utah woman reported fake school shooting to divert police from arresting friends, charges say

LEHI, Utah (KSL.com) — Criminal charges have been filed against an Eagle Mountain woman who police say falsely reported a school shooting in an effort to divert officers from arresting her friends.

Dorothy Bell Moran, 45, was identified after an extensive investigation. She was charged Thursday in 4th District Court with emergency reporting abuse and obstructing justice, third-degree felonies; and making threats against a school, a class A misdemeanor.

On May 24, emergency dispatchers received a report that someone was heading to Lehi High School with an AK-47 “to do some damage,” according to court records.

“This resulted in an emergency response from at least 40 officers from multiples agencies, and the entire high school was evacuated and cleared,” a search warrant affidavit states.

The threat was determined to be a hoax.

That same day, Lehi police were investigating a series of car burglaries. An Apple watch was stolen in one of the burglaries and the owner contacted police to say she was tracking the location of her watch.

A Lehi police officer stopped the vehicle believed to have the stolen watch inside and questioned Emry Jaron Hall, 25, of Holladay, and Aubrey Anna Merrill Snow, 30, of Magna. The officer noticed several bags and other items in the car that he believed were stolen, according to charging documents. He then applied for a search warrant to go through the vehicle.

“While the officer was waiting for a warrant return, the officer was called to a school shooting at Lehi High School. After the school was secure, detectives began investigating the school shooting threat,” the charges state. As the investigation into the school threat progressed, detectives determined “the purpose of the threat was to divert (the officer) from his traffic stop and that there was no threat to the school.”

Following a lengthy investigation, police learned that the call about the school shooting came from a phone owned by Moran, according to the charges. “It was also found that just prior to the threat call, Emry Hall had called Moran.”

Hall was arrested on Sept. 25 in Price for investigation of additional burglaries. Lehi police questioned him while he was in custody about the May incident. Hall “stated he had called Moran to complain to her about his predicament … and Moran stated she would ‘call right back.’ Hall stated Moran hung up, then called back,” the charges state.

According to phone records obtained by investigators, the school shooter call came two minutes after Hall called Moran, the charges allege.

Hall and Snow are facing multiple charges of their own in connection with several burglary cases. They are charged in 7th District Court with theft and unlawful possession of someone else’s documents. Hall was also charged in that case with three counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person and unlawful possession of a financial card

On Oct. 2, the couple was charged in connection with burglaries in Cottonwood Heights. They were charged in 3rd District Court with theft of a firearm, criminal mischief and theft. On Oct. 5, they were charged in another case with theft and burglary. In that case, the couple is accused of stealing more than $14,000 worth of property from a storage shed in West Jordan.