Tampa ‘Sandy Hook Truther’ Expected To Change Plea

TAMPA, FL — The Florida woman accused of threatening the father of a Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victim is expected to plead guilty at a change-of-plea hearing, according to court documents cited by multiple media reports including the Sun-Sentinel.

Lucy Richards, 57, is accused of sending death threats to Lenny Pozner, the father of 6-year-old Noah Pozner. Noah was one of the 20 children killed by Adam Lanza, 20, during the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre that also left six educators dead. The shooting at the Newtown, Connecticut, school rocked the nation, prompting many to call for stricter gun laws.

Others, however, have declared the shooting a hoax.

Richards of Tampa allegedly sent the threats to Lenny, who now lives in Florida, because she thought the shooting was a hoax.

According to a report from the Associated Press, a federal judge set a change of plea and sentencing hearing for Richards on March 29 in Fort Lauderdale federal court. The Sun-Sentinel's report indicates details of the plea agreement and punishment will not be made public until after the hearing.

Richards pleaded not guilty in December. She is a former waitress currently receiving Social Security disability payments, and told investigators she was motivated by anger after browsing websites that promote the conspiracy theories, according to the Florida publication.

Lenny Pozner's case is the latest involving those, referred to by many as "Sandy Hook Truthers," who believe the tragedy did not happen. A New York man, for example, was arrested in November 2015 after he allegedly harassed the sister of victim Vicki Soto at a benefit race held in her honor.

The man, Matthew Mills, was accused of shoving a picture of Soto in her sister’s face and claiming she never existed.

Richards' arrest came just days after a Florida Atlantic University professor was terminated by the school because of his alleged conspiracy theories about the events at Sandy Hook.

Lenny and Veronique Pozner, Noah's mother, wrote an open letter urging the school to part ways with James Tracy.

They wrote:

"Tracy even sent us a certified letter demanding proof that Noah once lived, that we were his parents, and that we were the rightful owner of his photographic image. We found this so outrageous and unsettling that we filed a police report for harassment. Once Tracy realized we would not respond, he subjected us to ridicule and contempt on his blog, boasting to his readers that the “unfulfilled request” was “noteworthy” because we had used copyright claims to “thwart continued research of the Sandy Hook massacre event.”

Patch’s Rich Scinto and Joe Lipovich contributed to this story.

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