Feds: Man ‘verbally harassed’ First Baptist church members

A Lockhart man and his girlfriend went to First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs in March and “ver- bally harassed” church members, saying that the Nov. 5, 2017 shooting that killed 26 people at the church was a hoax, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday.

Robert “Side Thorn” Ussery, 54, was charged Wednesday with felon in possession of a firearm, according to a DO J statement. The gun was inside Ussery’s vehicle when he went onto church property, the federal complaint alleges.

Ussery and his girlfriend claimed the Sutherland Springs shooting “was all a hoax, that no one died as a result of the shooting incident, and that ‘the people’ will hang a member of the church for perpetrating the hoax,” the DO J state- ment says.

His girlfriend, who federal officials identified only as “Conspiracy Granny,” was not charged with any federal crimes, said Daryl Fields, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

The San Antonio ExpressNews reported in March that the woman with Ussery was 56-year-old Jodi Mann and that Ussery and Mann were initially charged with tres- passing and resisting arrest. Ussery runs a website called “Side Thorn,” which is ded- icated to the belief that the church shooting was a government-inspired hoax, the San Antonio paper reported.

At the time, Ussery was also charged with possessing under 2 ounces of marijuana and making a terroris- tic threat, the Express-News reported.

Ussery’s arrest affidavit says he told the church’s pastor he would hang him and a fellow congregant, the Express-News wrote. The pastor’s 14-yearold daughter was killed in the shooting.

Ussery was convicted of burglary in 1984 in Brazoria County, federal officials said. vit