A New York man who apparently is obsessed with Jodi Arias was arrested by Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies for allegedly threatening two nationally known TV anchors over the Internet.
David Lee Simpson, 48 -- who used multiple Twitter handles, including "DaveLovesJodi" -- allegedly made comments about slitting the throats of the unnamed anchors and said he wanted to gut one "like a deer."
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Sheriff Joe Arpaio held a press conference Monday in which he justified detectives' travel to New York by saying a Maricopa County grand jury indicted Simpson on charges of stalking and computer tampering. Simpson threatened the anchors while they were in Phoenix, Arpaio said.
As usual, it was difficult to understand exactly what the case was about, because Arpaio doesn't really understand the whole Internet thing.
Arpaio -- who continued to refer to himself in the third person, as "the sheriff" -- said Simpson also threatened a local woman on "the Twitter."
According to Arpaio, this lady was "unhappy with this guy's Twitters" about the Arias case.
Simpson became infuriated with her and started sending messages to her "across the Twitters." It's unclear what happens when a message is transported all the way from one side of the Twitters to the other.
Arpaio's press team later clarified, "Simpson openly named and called out his intended victims, which also included a Phoenix woman who defended the commentator's coverage of the trial on Twitter."
All of the Twitter accounts of Simpson's we found have been suspended, but we did see one of his tweets about him being mad at Nancy Grace, who's presumably one of the two TV anchors allegedly threatened in the case.
According to the Sheriff's Office, local cops in New York pulled over Simpson after he quit his job and said he was leaving town, and police found several guns, shotgun ammo (but no shotgun), handcuffs, zip-ties, binoculars, a knife, and a police radio in the car.
He also had newspaper clippings in his car from the Newtown shooting, the shooting of four New York firefighters, and one of Arpaio's bestiality busts.
Arpaio added that Simpson is currently being transported to jail in Maricopa County but said he won't be meeting Arias -- "that's for sure."
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Follow Matthew Hendley on Twitter at @MatthewHendley.
