HOWELL – A Howell resident was sentenced for Bias Intimidation after sending threatening messages to individuals.
On March 26, it was brought to the Lakewood Township Police Department Detective Bureau’s attention that Anthony Lodespoto, 43, was making threatening statements through direct messaging on Facebook against the Jewish community of Lakewood. It was also discovered that Lodespoto was sending similar messages to the Facebook account of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.
According to police, the statements included Lodespoto threatening to travel to Lakewood with the purpose of assaulting members of the Jewish community with a baseball bat.
Lodespoto was arrested for Bias Intimidation and was lodged in the Ocean County Jail. On September 25, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that Lodespoto was sentenced to 180 days in the Ocean County Jail as a condition of eighteen months non-custodial probation.
