Joe Arpaio's Latest "Death Threat": Man Says He'll Take Imaginary Cartel Bounty | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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Joe Arpaio's Latest "Death Threat": Man Says He'll Take Imaginary Cartel Bounty

The definition of "death threat" continues to grow for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested a Peoria man for making a "death threat" against Arpaio, by making a comment online about taking a $2 million bounty from Mexican drug cartels for Arpaio's head. The main problem, of course,...
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The definition of "death threat" continues to grow for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office arrested a Peoria man for making a "death threat" against Arpaio, by making a comment online about taking a $2 million bounty from Mexican drug cartels for Arpaio's head. The main problem, of course, is that a $2 million bounty from Mexican drug cartels for Arpaio's head doesn't exist.

See also:
-Joe Arpaio's Latest Bogus Death Threat

This rumor literally started as a text-message version of a chain e-mail, which was "reported" by the local Fox affiliate back in 2010.

The local Fox affiliate is still operating under the belief that a Mexican drug cartel -- which will assassinate Mexican politicians, or chop off a guy's head for stealing some drugs -- is texting random people around Phoenix, offering a million bucks or so to off an elderly sheriff who can't even walk outside without tripping over himself and landing in the hospital.

"Multiple Mexican drug cartels have reportedly targeted the Sheriff for execution since 2007," Fox 10 "reports" today. "Some of the bounties mentioned in the cases have been reported as high as $3 million."

Nope. No they haven't.

Instead, Arpaio's announcing a "death threat" from a self-admitted mentally ill man who made several ill-conceived comments on YouTube videos.


Never mind the racist a few comments above using the handle "Kenny Boone," who claims he'll "shoot spik dead!! Ese!!! Yall are fuckin nasty people!!!" -- the purpose is to give Arpaio the attention.

Other alleged "death threats" Arpaio has claimed includes a man who said on Twitter that he "want[s] to personally blow Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head off," as well as a guy from Tennessee who claimed Satan ordered him to kill Alan Keyes, Herman Cain, and Michael Savage, as well as Arpaio.

Like the Peoria man arrested in the latest "threat," the man who made the ramblings about Satan and Arpaio also had some sort of mental-health issues. Aside from his truly bizarre statements on the Internet, a Tennessee judge also made a mental-health stipulation in sentencing him.

Then there's always James Brian Saville, who got his idea to blow up Arpaio from none other than the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. (Saville later got a settlement for that one.)

The Peoria man arrested in the latest incident, Frederick Joseph Cusick, was arrested at his home earlier this week, according to MCSO.

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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.


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