MCSO: 'Obama Fanatic' Threatened to Kill Arpaio
MCSO: 'Obama Fanatic' Threatened to Kill Arpaio
Updated: Friday, 27 Jan 2012, 9:26 PM MST
Published : Friday, 27 Jan 2012, 3:10 PM MST
PHOENIX - Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies are working with Knoxville, Tennessee authorities following an investigation into an internet death threat against Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Deputies served a search warrant at 33-year-old Adam Eugene Cox's home. A computer and other evidence was seized.
On Friday, Cox was arrested and taken into custody on an unrelated warrant for assault. He's being investigated as the prime suspect in the Arpaio death threat investigation.
According to MCSO, Cox's postings stated that the Sheriff and his family would be killed:
"I plan to kill Arpaio first. He will be filled with a thousand bullet holes before the year is out. I promise you this. He won’t f*** with Obama. He will be buried 10 feet under and his whole family will be murdered along with him."
The Sheriff's office says Cox may have been incensed by Arpaio's ongoing investigation into the legitimacy of Obama's birth certificate.
"I believe hes OK with criticism, however when criticism turns into potential criminal conduct and his life being threatened or a family member we take action and we do investigate," says Dep. Chief David Trombi.
The sheriff's office served a search warrant at Google’s headquarters in Knoxville for information about the blogger.
Maricopa County deputies are still in Knoxville. They've collected a lot of evidence, including Cox's laptop. They do believe it will be enough to charge him for this threat.
In another recent case, they served a warrant at Google in the Bay area to track down the person behind another recent blog FOX 10 exposed.
It had an image of murdered Sheriff's Deputy William Coleman, with the words: "Officer down, LOL."
It also had an image of Sheriff Arpaio, with the words: "You're next, Joe. Watch your back” and "wanted, dead or alive," with "alive" crossed out.
The blog has been shut down. So far, no arrests have been made in that threat.
"We have to take those threats seriously because the first time that we don't, the first time that we say it's just somebody being a nut or a kook, that's when we have problems," says Trombi.
MCSO: Obama Fanatic Threatened to Kill Arpaio
