SALT LAKE CITY — Police have arrested a former assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Northern Colorado on misdemeanor drug charges days after authorities in Colorado warned that he had described himself as an Islamic jihadist.
Christopher Dewitt Craig, 32, was taken into custody Thursday on an outstanding warrant for misdemeanor drug possession after officers found marijuana and a pipe in his car, said Price, Utah, police Capt. Bill Barnes.
The arrest came after police in Colorado issued a warning to church leaders last week about Craig, a former head coach at Utah State University College of Eastern Utah in Price.
The alert said Craig had been saying Mormons and Catholics would be destroyed in the coming weeks.
Barnes said Craig was being held in Carbon County Jail and did not yet have an attorney.
The warrant had been issued July 8. Barnes said officers arrested Craig after his car was spotted at his wife’s apartment. The car had “Revelation 14:7” written in black spray paint on the side, along with the letters “YHWH,” a reference to the Hebrew name for God, commonly written as Yahweh, Barnes said.
“Obviously, that brings easy attention to the vehicle,” he said.
He said Craig was cooperative but seemed agitated at times, telling officers he believed marijuana was a “holy spirit.” He used a mixture of Jewish and Christian terminology to reference the apocalypse.
No phone number was listed for the address.
Steamboat Springs police put out a bulletin to law enforcement in Colorado, Utah and other states
after receiving a call about a man driving around the city wearing sunglasses and a towel on his head, and filming himself.
