POTSDAM, N.Y. - After a 5-month investigation, members of the Potsdam Police Department arrested a Lemoyne College student for the misdemeanors of Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Third Degree and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree.

Matthew H. Mahaffy, 21, of Pulaski, N.Y. was arrested at 1:30 p.m. on 02/03/10. It is alleged that Mahaffy made a call to a Clarkson Resident Assistant during the early hours of September 14, 2009, in which he advised the RA that he thought he had just killed his girlfriend, that he had dragged her body into the woods, and that he needed help.

This phone call deeply disturbed the RA, who then contacted the Clarkson University Security Department as well as the Potsdam Police Department. Officers of the Potsdam Police began searching the wooded areas in and around the college for any evidence pertaining to the distress call.

Mahaffy turned himself in to the police, where he was issued a Criminal Summons, and was later arraigned in the Village of Potsdam Court. Mahaffy was released on his own recognizance and is to reappear in the Village of Potsdam Court on March 3, 2010.