MIAMI, Dec. 7 (UPI) — A central Florida woman has been arrested and charged with four felonies for allegedly threatening the parent of a kindergartner who died at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School four years ago.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami announced the arrest of Lucy Richards Wednesday and said she will be charged with four counts of transmitting threats in interstate commerce.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Miami FBI Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro made the announcement.
According to authorities, Richards, 57, of Tampa, sent the threats because she believes the Newtown, Conn., massacre was a hoax.
“On or about January 10, 2016, Richards made a series of death threats to a parent of a child killed in the Sandy Hook School shooting,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. “Richards’ [belief] that the school shooting was a hoax and never happened allegedly motivated her to make the charged threats.”
Officials said the targeted parent, believed to be Lenny Pozner, is a South Florida resident.
One of the four messages sent by Richards read, “You gonna die. Death is coming to you real soon,” according to the indictment.
Pozner was the father of Noah Pozner, the youngest child to die at Sandy Hook. Nineteen other children and six adults were killed in the shocking Dec. 14, 2012, attack.
Pozner has since become a target of anger for some conspiracy theorists and non-believers in the Sandy Hook incident because he has worked to debunk many of their theories online.
If convicted, Richards could spend up to five years in prison for each charge. She was arrested Monday and will attend a preliminary hearing in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 19.
