Man Arrested For Death Threats Against Sanford Chief
MELBOURNE BEACH (CBSMiami) - A Melbourne Beach man was arrested Friday after he sent a profanity charged e-mail threatening the Sanford police chief who, until this week, had been overseeing the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a neighborhood watch captain.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said John Carnduff Stewart emailed Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee Thursday, saying Lee and his family should be killed. Melbourne beach is nearly 70 miles south of Sanford.
"You F***ing son of a bitch," the e-mail began.
"You and your family need to be hunted down and shot like a dog, just like Trayvon Martin. I have more weapons than your entire police department and I would love to use some of them just to take you down."
The e-mail also blasted the competency of the Sanford Police Department, and included his home address and phone number.
Investigators confirmed the source of the e-mail using computer data checking techniques. Friday, investigators from Seminole county joined Brevard county officers in an attempt to serve a search warrant, but stopped him as they asw him leave his home.
He refused to return with the officers, but admitted writing the e-mail "to piss them off."
The sheriff's office says Stewart has sent threatening emails previously, including threats to Penn State University assistant football coach Mike McQueary.
Police eventually searched the computer and found copies of the e-mail. He was arrested after making a statement to police.
Stewart was placed on electronic monitoring as a condition of his $10,000 bond.
Lee temporarily stepped down as chief amid national outrage over the investigation. The neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, has not been charged in Trayvon Martin's death.
