CEDAR CITY — A man who formerly taught art classes at Southern Utah University was recently extradited back to Utah to face multiple charges, including making terroristic threats, stalking, violating a protective order, domestic violence and assault.
Steven Charles Baggs, 47, was booked into Iron County Jail in Cedar City on June 8. He had been transported from San Francisco by two officers, one from SUU Police and one from Cedar City Police, who took him into custody shortly after he’d arrived in California on a flight from Japan.
According to a probable cause statement filed on Dec. 29, 2022 in support of the threat of terrorism charge, Baggs is accused of making threats toward multiple SUU faculty members, including the supervisor that had hired him on an “emergency” basis to teach classes in the art department.
According to the affidavit, Baggs alleged in an email that he had been hired too late in the term, was given faulty information and was treated poorly. That caused added stress on his family, which Baggs claimed led to his eventual arrest on domestic violence charges.
Among the concerning comments allegedly made by Baggs to school officials, either via email or phone, were threats of using a gun to commit acts of violence, including suicide.
“At this point, Mr. Baggs demanded they put him on tenure-track, pay for his doctorate degree, and fire (the supervisor who had hired him),” the affidavit states.
Another probable cause statement, filed two days earlier on Dec. 27, details additional allegations against Baggs, accusing him of criminal mischief, assault, stalking and six counts of violating a protective order.
According to that affidavit, Baggs allegedly slashed two tires and broke the windshield of another person’s car on Nov. 18. In the weeks that followed, he reportedly had several run-ins with police officers, including emails and texts that allegedly contained threatening language. In one text, he reportedly stated he would “burn Cedar City to the ground.”
Additionally, in a Cedar City Justice Court case filed Nov. 9, Baggs allegedly threw a bicycle and a piece of furniture during a family argument. He also allegedly took his wife’s vehicle from her residence and attempted to sell the car online both times. Baggs faces two class B misdemeanor counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child in connection with that incident, along with misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and assault.
Also, on Dec. 14, after further investigation by Cedar City Police, Baggs was formally charged with another count of violating a protective order, a class A misdemeanor, as well as being illegally in possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
In a recent case, filed in 2nd District Court in northern Utah’s Davis County on June 7, Baggs is also accused of making multiple phone calls to the home of a police chief and threatening to harm his family. In that case, Baggs faces one count of assault on a police officer, a class A misdemeanor, one count of threat of violence, a class B misdemeanor, and two counts of harassment via electronic communication, a class B misdemeanor.
Baggs, who continues to be held without bail in the Iron County Jail, made his initial court appearance from the jail via videoconference on June 12.
During that brief hearing, 5th District Judge Matthew L. Bell informed Baggs of the charges he faces in Iron County. Bell also appointed public defender Troy Sundquist to represent Baggs and scheduled a preliminary hearing for June 26.
This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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