A former SIU student was sentenced to two years in federal prison after he plead guilty to making bomb threats against SIUC students and faculty about three years ago. 

Tuesday at a federal court in Benton, Derrick Dawon Burns, 23, of Chicago, learned his fate after admitting in August to sending four threatening letters to students from 2012 to 2013.

 Burns said he was seeking attention on a campus where he was bullied and harassed by fellow students, The Associated Press reported today. 

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Burns was arrested Sept. 29, 2012 in connection to the written bomb threats and violent personal letters to students. He was indicted on four federal felony counts of willfully making a bomb threat and four counts of mailing a threatening communication in October. 

The letters, one of which was titled “The War on SIU,” graphically depicted violent fantasies of raping and murdering students. One letter sent by Burns resulted in the evacuation of more than 2,000 students from the Towers in September 2012.

“Give me $50 million or SIU is history,” Burns said in his first letter.

MORE: Chicago man admits making bomb threats against SIUC | Man arrested in connection with threats

Burns attended the university from fall 2011 to fall 2013 with a major in criminology and criminal justice, university spokesperson Rae Goldsmith said in September 2014. 

Bill Lukitsch can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3329.