Phoenix, AZ — (MCSO) — Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office detectives have arrested a man for stalking Sheriff Joe Arpaio and writing a letter which prompted a bomb sweep at a downtown Phoenix hotel on Tuesday afternoon.
43-year-old Ruben Pena, was already being investigated by Sheriff’s deputies for continually coming down to Sheriffs Downtown headquarters . Pena claiming to be “Jesus Christ” visited the Headquarters Building on December 8th requesting to speak with the Sheriff regarding an identification issue.
Pena’s request was not completed in timely manner at which time he left a letter which read; “Joe!!! Your ass is mine Sincerely Your creator & Destroyer”.
Sheriff’s investigators determined Pena had been in the building several other times making statements of “The Sheriff is a piece of shit”, and “This isn’t threatening but this piece of shit is done”. Just a week later, Sheriff’s deputies found two letters written by Pena that were left in a bag on the headquarters property.
The items written in the letters read: “Son of mary lou Bownds of the house of david can not receive any texts, calls, or see my face again until she accepts and confesses with her mouth that I am Jesus Christ Jr. Son of Jesus of Nazareth. Bag location is @ renaisance Fire/exit” .
This prompted a bomb sweep of the Renaissance Hotel in Downtown Phoenix, on Tuesday Afternoon.
This sweep was done to rule out any possible suspicious packages left at the hotel.
On 12/14/2015 Pena continued to threaten the Sheriff and said “I’m gonna kill him alright.” “I will awaken him. He will hear my voice and ambulances”, “That Arpaio is so charming, so considerate. He is occupying my position”, “I have all that he needs. I am his creator and destroyer.”
Pena was subsequently arrested and booked into 4th Avenue Jail on felony charges.
“Here is another man who is making threats against Sheriff Arpaio and others, yet walking around the streets of Phoenix” said spoken Deputy Joaquin Enriquez.
Pena’s arrest occurs after a Canadian man who has been arrested several times for making eight death threats against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his family. Sheriff Arpaio has a history of threats against him, such as Gregory Lynn Schrader, the suspect who mailed a dangerous explosive device to Sheriff Arpaio in April of 2013. Schrader was sentenced in U.S. federal court to a long prison sentence.
This is just one example of many threats and the convictions against Arpaio. Pena’s stalking case is a bit unusual as nobody has been arrested for stalking Sheriff Arpaio. While the Sheriff has many admirers none have risen to the level of Pena’s actions.
(Photo source: AZFamily)
