New federal charge, re-arrest for man twice held after Folsom school incidents
The Folsom man facing felony charges for alleged threats after assessing potential “sniper points” on the Folsom High School campus last month who was arrested again near a Folsom elementary school Monday is now facing federal charges, Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
FBI agents arrested Curt Michael Taras, 53, on federal charges of possessing a firearm in a school zone stemming from the Sept. 24 incident at Folsom High School, officials at the FBI’s Sacramento field office said Wednesday afternoon. Taras was scheduled to appear on the allegation at 2 p.m. Thursday in Sacramento federal court.
Folsom High School’s basketball and football teams were among those on the Iron Point Road campus as Taras neared the school on the evening of Sept. 24. A Folsom High basketball coach saw the man, later identified as Taras, in a parking lot on the Prairie City Road side of the campus, authorities said.
At the same time, police dispatchers relayed reports to Folsom officers of “a male that is seen on the campus talking about some kind of ‘sniper points’ at the school,” according to dispatchers’ audio recordings.
Folsom police tracked down Taras, who officers said was carrying a knife. A search of his vehicle parked near the school found a weapon and a high-capacity magazine, the Folsom Police Department said.
Taras was booked into Sacramento County custody in the Folsom High incident on multiple felony charges, including making criminal threats, possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle, possessing a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school and bringing a knife onto school grounds. He was released on bail on those charges pending a preliminary hearing that was scheduled to take place Thursday in Sacramento Superior Court.
Taras also faces misdemeanor counts in Sacramento Superior Court of possessing a high-capacity magazine and violating a court order.
Federal hold may complicate state charges
With Taras now in federal custody, it was unclear whether he would appear for the Superior Court hearing. Taras’ overlapping state and federal charges mirror those of accused ABC10 building shooter Anibal “Al” Hernandez Santana, 64, of Sacramento.
Hernandez Santana was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of firing a 9 mm handgun within a school zone, possessing a firearm within a school zone and willfully or maliciously interfering with or causing interference to any radio communications of any station in the September shooting.
Hernandez Santana is scheduled to be in Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday as well. His arraignment there had been postponed twice, since the defendant remains under a federal hold.
Hernandez Santana was expected to return to federal court Nov. 17 after entering not guilty pleas to the allegations Oct. 6.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office had charged Hernandez Santana with firing a gun into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm.
Taras calls incidents ‘misunderstanding’
In Taras’ case, Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office in a statement Wednesday afternoon said the office is working with Folsom Police Department and federal authorities: “As public safety is our mandate, we continue to work closely with all our law enforcement partners to ensure that he is not a threat to our community.”
Taras, in a letter to the Folsom Times newspaper before his arrest Wednesday, called the September incident a “misunderstanding” following a second arrest Monday near Sandra J. Gallardo Elementary School.
Taras in the letter said the Sept. 24 incident at Folsom High was a “trauma response” borne of a traumatic brain injury and his experience as a recovery worker after the 9/11 terror attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
“I had a misunderstanding in response to the vandalism at Folsom High which was a Trauma Response. Trauma makes me worry,” Taras, an Air Force veteran who left the military with the rank of captain, wrote in the letter to the Folsom newspaper. “I did not make threats or present any danger,” he said, calling himself a peaceful person who had been a coach and Scout leader.
Of his arrest Monday after walking with his teenage son outside Sandra J. Gallardo Elementary School in Folsom, Taras wrote, “I was arrested because times are tense today.”
Taras listed himself as a parent, volunteer and civil engineer in the Folsom Times letter, saying he is “receiving Veterans health care and complying with orders to stay away from schools,” following his Folsom High School arrest.
He added that he earned the moniker “Safety Engineer Curt,” and that, in 2018, he had emailed a safety plan to Folsom schools that included adding more exit gates.
“My proposal was declined,” Taras wrote.
On Monday, Taras was seen walking outside the grade school on the 700 block of Russi Road in Folsom. Students were not in class on Monday, a professional development day for teachers who were on campus at the time, said Folsom Police Department officials.
Taras said in the letter that he walked past the campus with his 15-year-old son, a former Gallardo student, after grabbing lunch at a nearby restaurant.
“I was re-arrested for simply walking past Gallardo Elementary school with my former student son, 15, in my neighborhood after eating lunch together at Panda Express,” he wrote.
Officers initially could not find Taras and determined he was no longer on the Gallardo campus. Police later found that Taras had been at the school and arrested him for violating the court’s stay-away order.
Folsom police later arrested Taras for violating a court stay-away order. Taras was not armed at the time of his arrest, police said. He was booked into Sacramento County Main Jail, where he later posted bond, according to jail records.
The Bee’s Rosalio Ahumada contributed to this story.
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 5:20 PM.
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