Woman pleads not guilty in Sandy Hook parent death threat

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida woman accused of threatening the parent of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting because she thought it was a hoax pleaded not guilty Monday and was barred from visiting websites that promote such false conspiracy theories.

Lucy Richards, 57, entered her plea in Fort Lauderdale federal court after a public defender was appointed to represent her. The lawyer, Michael Spivack, declined to comment after the hearing.

Richards was arrested Dec. 7 in Tampa on four felony counts of transmitting threats to Lenny Pozner, father of 6-yearold Noah Pozner who died in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Richards lives in Brandon, near Tampa, but threats were received by Pozner in Palm Beach County, according to court records.

Each charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Richards, who is free on $25,000 bail, entered the courtroom wearing furry slippers and using an aluminum walker. She told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer she is on disability and has not worked in more than a decade, when she was a waitress. She spoke softly in answering the judge’s questions, telling him she is not married and has no children, and that she had only been arrested once before for stealing two sandwiches from a grocery store.

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who argue the event was staged to erode support for Second Amendment gun rights. Richards, however, said she owns no weapons.

The four threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, “you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon,” and “LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH.”