Sandy Hook ‘truther’ caught in Virginia with signs stolen from playgrounds built for Newtown victims: police

Andrew David Truelove, 28, allegedly took signs earlier this month from Connecticut and New Jersey that memorialized Newtown victims Grace McDonnell and Chase Kowalski, both 7. He also called the parents of both victims and said the shooting was a hoax and the kids never existed. The stolen signs were recovered at Truelove's Herndon, Va., home, police said.

BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, May 30, 2014, 7:01 PM

FAIRFAX COUNTY VIRGINIA SHERIFF
Andrew David Truelove, 28, allegedly stole the playground signs and taunted the victims' parents after the crime, police say.

A demented Sandy Hook “truther” was arrested Friday in Virginia after he stole signs from playgrounds in New Jersey and Connecticut that were dedicated to tiny victims of the Newtown school massacre, police say.

Andrew David Truelove, 28, lifted a sign May 6 from a Mystic, Conn., playplace dedicated to 7-year-old Grace McDonnell and also took a sign from the playground made for Chase Kowalski, also 7, in Mantoloking, N.J.

He called the parents of both children after the thefts and told them the shooting was a hoax and that their children never existed.

Cops in Stonington, Conn., got a lead on the suspect after he bragged about the theft and sent images of himself pointing the middle finger at the stolen signs to The Daily Banter, a news and opinion website.

Police tracked the image data to Herndon, Va., where cops surveilled Truelove’s home and then searched it Friday.

HERNDON POLICE DEPARTMENT
Police pose with the signs after they were recovered from a home Friday in Herndon, Va.

The stolen signs were sitting in Truelove’s living room, Lt. Jim Moore, the Herndon police spokesman, told the Daily News.

The alleged thief has been sitting in jail since May 26 for a probation violation. His checkered background includes a conviction for abducting an 8-year-old girl from a schoolyard in 2007, cops said.

“We’re going to drive the signs to Connecticut and to New Jersey and deliver them to the families,” Moore said. “This was a very moving and very touching story. It’s nice to see the signs were not damaged too much while sitting in the house.”

Truelove took pictures of himself pointing the middle finger at the stolen signs inside his Herndon, Va., then sending them and bragging about the thefts to website The Daily Banter. The email helped cops crack the case.

The playgrounds are two of 26 to be built by the “Where Angels Play” foundation in Hurricane Sandy-ravaged areas of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut in memory of the children and educators gunned down during the Newtown murders.

The stolen signs have since been replaced.

So-called Sandy Hook “truthers” are conspiracy theorists who believe the horrific massacre was staged by the government to help aid its cause to impose strict gun control laws. In their eyes, Grace and Chase never existed and their parents are actors.

YOUTUBE/YOUTUBE
Grace McDonnell Playground ribbon cutting ceremony, in Stonington, Conn., behind the Mystic YMCA on April 24.

“I spoke with the families and they are very happy to hear that hopefully justice will be done, and more importantly, he’s off the street,” the foundation’s founder, Bill Lavin, said of the suspect, who has documented mental health issues. “He’s ignorant of the tragedy and it’s scary to imagine that there are people out there that don’t understand the gravity of this tragedy. Not only the horrific pain of the experience, but to be tormented by these characters, is unsettling.”

Both children were among the 20 gunned down inside Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012.

Truelove has been charged with possession of stolen property, and will likely face charges in both Connecticut and New Jersey related to thefts, Moore, the Herndon police spokesman, told the News.

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