Lucy Richards, Florida woman, arrested for death threats against parent of Sandy Hook victim

A Florida woman who believes the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax was arrested and charged with making a series of death threats against a parent whose child was killed in the 2012 massacre.

Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa, was indicted on four counts of transmitting threats, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Florida announced Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Ms. Richards is among a small group of conspiracy theorists who believe the mass shooting never happened and her beliefs motivated her to make the threats. According to a copy of the indictment, Mr. Richards made several statements to the parent on Jan. 10, saying in part that “death is coming to you real soon and there’s nothing you can do about it.” She also wrote to the parent, identified as L.P., saying “Look behind you, it is death.”

Twenty-six people, including 20 first-graders were gunned down at the school in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Gunman Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle to launch his attack inside the school before killing himself.

Even as the fourth anniversary of the massacre approaches, there remains a small group of so-called Sandy Hook Truthers who continue to perpetuate the false idea that the mass shooting was a hoax and grieving parents were actors.

Ms. Richards faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the four charges. She is expected to be arraigned on the charges Dec. 19.

Her arrest is the second time this week that a person has been criminally charged for actions stemming from belief in a conspiracy theory.

On Sunday, D.C. police arrested a North Carolina man who fired shots inside a pizzeria as he sought to investigate a debunked internet conspiracy theory. Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, told police he brought a rifle into the Comet Ping Pong restaurant to self-investigate “Pizzagate,” a series of false rumors spread online that the restaurant is the site of a child trafficking ring and is in cahoots with Hillary Clinton and her top campaign staffers.