NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah (ABC4) — A Utah transgender man allegedly made threats online and stormed a North Salt Lake school, assaulting a school administrator and refusing to leave, according to North Salt Lake Police.

Thomas Dillie, 36, (legal name Penelope Rosanne Howard) faces charges of threats against schools (class A misdemeanor), assault or threat of violence against a school employee (class A misdemeanor), possession or use of a controlled substance (class A misdemeanor), possession of drug paraphernalia (class A misdemeanor), criminal trespass (class B misdemeanor), and interference with arresting officer (class B misdemeanor).

On April 13, officers arrested Dillie at North Salt Lake Spectrum Academy. Court documents state that Dillie entered the school without permission, went into the administration offices, and “demanded to know where [his] children were.”

Dillie was reportedly told that his children were not there and was asked to leave. Police say his children had been taken from him by his partner and that they had not been students at the academy “for quite some time.”

Dillie reportedly entered the office of the school administrator, “aggressively interrupting a meeting to argue,” court documents state. During the argument, Dillie allegedly threw a book at the administrator, striking him in the head.

Upon being repeatedly asked to leave, court documents state that Dillie threatened, “It would be a shame if there were an active shooter at the school.” Police say Dillie is a former employee of the school and “was aware of the school’s active shooter drills and practices,” and that his knowledge of these drills would place the school and children in heightened danger.

Police also discovered that prior to coming to the school, Dillie had posted a video on Facebook stating in a reportedly “aggressive and angry manner” that he is a transgender male who has been betrayed by his entire family and the state.

Dillie allegedly claimed that he has a transgender child, saying “some transphobic people have them” and that he can’t get them back, court documents state.

“The world will hear me if it kills me, because I will not win a legal battle in Utah as a trans-man
and I know it,” Dillie allegedly said in the video. He continued, “Someone is going to come over to North Salt Lake Spectrum Academy where they are shooting kids or they would if they could. Someone’s going to help me. Now. Right now.”

Dillie allegedly refused to speak to police upon their arrival, and instead “read [his] book and acted as though [he] were a character from Harry Potter.” After resisting arrest, Dillie was then “bodily carried” out of the school, police say.

Two days after his arrest, while at Davis County Jail, Dillie allegedly bit one deputy’s hand and attempted to bite another deputy. Dillie now faces multiple counts of assault by a prisoner (third-degree felony).

No further information is available at this time.