Veteran who issued threats to Folsom High campus gets mental health treatment
The veteran who faced federal charges for suspected threats to Folsom High School in September was released to a residential mental health treatment facility in Oregon, a Sacramento federal judge ordered Tuesday.
Curt Michael Taras, 53, was ordered to report Wednesday to the Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program, in White City, Oregon, 10 miles outside of Medford, where he will be held on home confinement. Taras must complete all program requirements and wear a GPS monitor at all times.
Taras was arrested by Folsom police Sept. 24 after school staffers overheard the retired Air Force captain assessing potential “sniper points” on the campus while youth athletics teams were practicing after school hours.
Folsom police later found 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.
Taras was later indicted on federal felony counts related to the incident and rearrested.
Attorneys for Taras in court documents argued the Folsom resident was in the midst of a mental health crisis — not issuing threats — in the September incident.
Instead, attorney Michael Taylor said, Taras was voicing his concerns about the campus’ layout during an active shooter scenario; concerns he repeated to Folsom police during his interview in their custody.
Taras was going through a divorce, was not medicated and had paranoid thought about his family’s safety prior to his arrest at the high school, attorney Michael Taylor said in court filings. Taras has since been prescribed medication for bipolar disorder, his attorney, said.
Once he completes the pretrial treatment at the southern Oregon facility, Taras must report to federal court authorities in Michigan for another intake appointment and to transfer his GPS device to his residence.
Taras will then move into the custody of his mother at the end of his treatment, where he cannot leave for more than 24 hours without prior approval from a pretrial services officer.
Taras has turned over his U.S. passport. His travel is confined to Oregon while in treatment; to Michigan after he completes his treatment; and Sacramento, for court purposes, the order stated.
While at his mother’s residence, Taras must adhere to a lengthy list of conditions including bans on alcohol, weapons, drugs without a prescription; mandatory medical or psychiatric treatment and mandatory drug and alcohol testing. He also must wear GPS monitoring at all times.
Taras, in a letter to a Folsom newspaper, called the September incident a “misunderstanding” borne out of a “trauma response” stemming from a traumatic brain injury and his experience as a recovery worker after the 9/11 terror attack on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
The engineer and former youth soccer coach also said in the letter to the Folsom Times that he was “receiving Veterans health care and complying with orders to stay away from schools,” following his Folsom High School arrest.
State charges remain for Taras, according to Sacramento Superior Court records, with an appearance in the original case slated for February.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
.JPG)