Sports Bettor Pleads Not Guilty to Stadium Bomb Threat: Tried to Stop Game Due to Losing Bet

• Freshman charged with communicating false information of a planned bombing on school property

• Made bomb threat during LSU-Florida game

• Wanted to stop game because a friend was "on verge of losing big bet"

A University of Alabama freshman has pleaded Not Guilty after he was accused of calling in a bomb threat to a Louisiana stadium earlier this month in which 102,321 were attending. The game was the most popular sporting event nationwide that day, ESPN confirmed.  It was also their most watched college football game in two years.

Connor Bruce Croll, 19, was charged by the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office with communicating false information of a planned bombing on school property.

Croll, of Crozet, Virginia, pleaded not guilty before state District Judge Fred Crifasi, and is scheduled to appear back in court January 8.

"He seems like a good person," said Baton Rouge lawyer James Rothkamm, who represents Croll. "We're just waiting on all the information before determining how to proceed."

A call came into Baton Rouge Police Department's nonemergency line during the LSU-Florida game Oct. 12 stating "there is a bomb in the stadium," according to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison booking records.  Authorities quickly traced the call to Croll's phone and learned he was a student at the University of Alabama.

Officials contacted the University of Alabama Police Department and Croll was quickly located and placed under arrest.

Croll admitted that he had attempted to halt the game claiming "his friend was on the verge of losing a large bet."

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com