⏩ Sandy Hook massacre denier remains under the radar.

As extremist Alex Jones fights the defamation charges brought against him by Sandy Hook families in the state’s highest court, the man some call the mastermind of Sandy Hook massacre denial continues to target grieving families.

Wolfgang Halbig, a 73yearold Florida man whose conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook are so extreme that even Jones says he no longer believes them, has waged a relentless email campaign against certain parents of slain Sandy Hook schoolchildren that has largely escaped the headlines.

“Halbig is the one who has caused all the trouble and Alex Jones is just a megaphone he used to amplify some of his theories and raise money,” said Lenny Pozner, the father of a boy slain in the Sandy Hook massacre, and the founder of a nonprofit to battle “online hoax and hate purveyors.”

“Halbig is like a serial killer who wants to be stopped because he can’t stop himself, except there are no laws to stop these people,” Pozner said.

Halbig, who sent an email to Sandy Hook parents last week claiming their son was the child of a Western Connecticut State University professor, comes up in the news from time to time, in part because he is a codefendant in the multimillion dollar defamation lawsuit brought by eight families that lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre, and an FBI agent who investigated the worst crime in Connecticut history.

But Halbig has nothing close to the high profile or the national following of Jones, whose is accused of calling the Sandy Hook massacre “staged,” “synthetic,” “manufactured,” “a giant hoax” and “completely fake with actors” with “inside job written all over it,” in order to spike viewership and boost internet sales.

The difference, Jones’ attorneys argue, is that Jones no longer believes that the 2012 crime was a hoax.

Halbig, who could not be reached Thursday at his Sorrento, Fla., home, continues to target Pozner and other grieving Sandy Hook parents in emails, accusing them of not telling the truth about their loss.

“You talk about warning signs and red flags — well this guy is a red flag,” said Neil Heslin, the father of a boy who was slain in the Sandy Hook massacre, and one of four parents who is suing Jones in Texas for defamation. “You ignore it to a point, but you get to a point where it doesn’t go away, and it’s dangerous because their followers act out.”

Heslin said people have twice come into his front yard with harassing words that referenced Halbig, but when Heslin called police, he was told they were limited in what they could do.

“You feel like you are being threatened and violated and you fear for your safety, and Halbig is throwing logs on the fire,” Heslin said.

Sandy Hook attorney Donald Papcsy, who represents both Heslin and Pozner in a lawsuit against Newtown that has been appealed to state Supreme Court, said the harassment that Halbig is waging through the internet could be interpreted under a broad interpretation as protected free speech under the First Amendment.

“The First Amendment has to protect speech no matter how much you disagree with it or how crazy you think it is,” Papcsy said.

“He’s just some guy who is only on the radar because he’s emailing a father who lost a child in a tragedy that everybody knows about,” Papcsy said. “He hasn’t done anything to deserve attention.”

That was certainly the attitude Newtown leaders took in the emotionally raw aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre when Halbig and other deniers attended a 2014 school board meeting to voice their extremist theories.

The board members listened in silence and did not reply to Halbig, a former Florida state trooper who described himself as a school safety and security consultant.

Pozner, who successfully sued Halbig over family information of Pozner’s that Halbig posted on his website, said a Florida prosecutor declined to pursue charges of harassment against Halbig because his conspiracy theory emails are addressed to multiple respondents.

An email last week targeting Heslin and others in his family was copied to 19 people in the FBI and the news media, for example.

“The prosecutor said that because he was CC’ing 20 other people in his email he wasn’t cyberstalking me,” Pozner said. “He is having the time of his life and there is nothing we can do.”

Halbig, who represents himself in the Connecticut defamation lawsuit, is going through pretrial motions in state Superior Court. Jury selection is scheduled for November, 2020.

Halbig was in the headlines in March when a news organization reported that an NRA official suggested that Halbig call into question the 2018 massacre of 17 at a Florida high school.

Pozner, founder of the Honr Network, said he has no illusions about the man he has been battling for years.

“This is his retirement hobby — people donate to him and he’s a hero,” Pozner said of Halbig. “Whatever the term is, whether it’s psychopath or psychotic — he doesn’t feel bad about harming people.”