No charges yet in Maryland shooting threat

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CROFTON, Md., July 29 (UPI) -- A Maryland man remained in custody even though prosecutors said no charges had been filed in his alleged plot to go on a shooting spree at his office.

Law enforcement officials said this weekend it could be another week before they decide to bring charges against Neil Prescott, 28, of Crofton, who was arrested last week after allegedly making threatening statements to co-workers about killing his boss.

A cache of weapons was found in Prescott's home and Prescott was lodged at a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

Defense lawyers not involved in the case told the Baltimore Sun they were somewhat surprised no charges had been filed against Prescott, but added prosecutors still had time to build up their case.

"They are going to look for any charges they can place," predicted attorney Andrew Alperstein. "The difficulty is that he hasn't done anything yet."

Legal experts told the Sun it is perfectly legal to utter threats against another person as long as there is no indication the person making the threats had taken any steps to carry it out.

Dr. Adam Kaplin, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told the Sun the trick would be to determine if Prescott's statements amounted to an imminent threat that would allow his preventative arrest.

"'Imminent' is the key," Kaplin said. "You really need to make a judgment call. We don't have magic ways of deducing this."