WATERLOO - The former girlfriend of a Windsor Heights man accused of shutting down the University of Northern Iowa with text messages took the stand in his trial Monday.

Jennie Oler, a UNI sophomore, told the court she received a series of troubling text messages from Todd Michael Younk, 19, March 11 after a verbal argument with him.

Younk is charged with misdemeanor harassment, and he waived a jury trial, allowing a magistrate judge to determine his fate.

Oler and Younk had dated off and on in high school but were only friends when the incident happened.

Sometimes reluctantly, Oler said the 30 or so messages, received on her cell phone over a period of hours, told her to get out of his life and said when he dies it's going to be her fault. "I hope you die," another one read.

"He said he was coming to UNI," Oler testified. "He said he wanted to see me."

"And what else?" asked Assistant County Attorney Linda Fangman.

"And that he'd find me," Oler said.

"What did he say about the gun?" Fangman asked.

"He said he bought one," Oler said.

When a friend of Oler heard about the messages, she went to the dorm's residential advisor. UNI police were contacted, and the campus was locked down until Windsor Heights police located Younk at his home.

But Oler testified she thought the threat was that Younk take his own life, not harm her.

"I was afraid he was going to hurt himself eventually," Oler said.

Even so, Fangman noted that some of the text messages Oler sent to Younk told him that he was scaring her and had "terrified" her.

She had left her dorm room so Younk couldn't find her, Fangman said, and other witnesses said Oler was in tears

When Windsor Heights police showed at the home of Younk's parents, where he lived, Younk was unarmed, and they didn't find any weapons in his vehicle.

Police said authorities did seize four or five rifles and shotguns from the home. Younk's stepfather said the some of the firearms belonged to him and some belonged to Younk's brother.

For the defense, two of Younk's longtime friends said they were with him around the time the messages were sent.

One, who was with him first, said he didn't see Younk with a cell phone at that time. The other friend said they played Frisbee golf together that day, and Younk wasn't sending or receiving text messages on his cell phone.

Defense attorney Benjamin Bergmann of Des Moines asked the magistrate to find his client innocent because the state failed to show that Younk had sent the messages.

"A cellular phone can be operated by anyone who picks it up," Bergmann said.

He also said there was no evidence Younk intended to annoy or alarm Oler.

Fangman said Younk's identity was established because he used a pet name for Oler in one of the messages and because, after police began seeking him, he verbally told Oler's friend that he was sorry and he was going to be in trouble.

"It's clear he had the phone. It's clear he knew what he was doing," Fangman said.

The trial ended Monday evening, and Magistrate Joseph Sevcik will take the testimony and evidence into consideration and deliver a verdict at a later date.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com