Title: Jonathan Lee Riches Impersonates Adam Lanza's Uncle, 'Jonathan Lanza,' Gets Arrested Source:
huffingtonpost.com URL Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/ ... am-lanzas-uncle_n_2370571.html Published:Dec 27, 2012 Author:huffingtonpost.com Post Date:2012-12-30 10:48:50 by GreyLmist Keywords:Sandy Hook scam, alleged uncle, Jonathan Lanza, hoaxer Jonathan Lee Riches Views:4034 Comments:7
A man who allegedly impersonated the uncle of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza has been arrested.
Jonathan Lee Riches drove to Newtown, Conn. two days after the massacre, the Smoking Gun reported. The 35-year-old showed up at a memorial site and claimed to be "Jonathan Lanza," Adam Lanza's uncle. Posing as Jonathan Lanza, Riches told reporters from the New York Daily News that Adam Lanza had been prescribed Fanapt, an antipsychotic drug.
After learning that "Jonathan Lanza" was a phony, the New York Daily news removed the article from its website. References to the original, however, remain around the Internet.
Riches was arrested a few days later -- for violating federal probation. Riches is currently serving five-years probation for conspiracy and wire fraud, and the terms prohibit him from leaving the judicial boundaries of Pennsylvania's Eastern District without permission.
Needless to say, he did not have permission for his jaunt to Connecticut.
This is by no means the first time Riches has made headlines. The former inmate is well-known for filing thousands of absurd lawsuits over the past decade.
Felon who claimed to be Adam Lanza's uncle collared
On December 16, two days after the school massacre, Riches drove to Connecticut and sought to visit the home of gunman Adam Lanza. Riches, who videotaped part of the trip and uploaded clips to his YouTube page, was turned away from the Lanza family’s street by a police blockade.
Riches, however, did turn up at a makeshift memorial site in Newtown, where he identified himself to reporters as “Jonathan Lanza,” uncle of the school shooter. As reported by the New York Daily News and other media outlets, he told journalists that the killer had been taking Fanapt, an antipsychotic drug prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia. As photographers snapped away, Riches (seen below) dropped to a knee and feigned praying for the young victims.
Videos and pics at both sites. After the Huffington Post article, a Twitter account ID'd as the impersonator's is linked there under a screen name. He might be inferred in this report (Published on Dec 16, 2012) about prosecuting perpetrators of misinformation:
Lanza's background is now truly scrambled like an omelet. First, the shooter had his brother's ID on him, which led to one serious mistake. Then there was confusion about his mother. More confusion, or uncertainty, about his medical condition and regimen. Now imposters showing up with fake family insights.
This last guy, being a deliberate fraud, ought to be criminally prosecuted for interfering with a police investigation, falsification of evidence, etc.
Lanza's background is now truly scrambled like an omelet. First, the shooter had his brother's ID on him, which led to one serious mistake. Then there was confusion about his mother. More confusion, or uncertainty, about his medical condition and regimen. Now imposters showing up with fake family insights.
This last guy, being a deliberate fraud, ought to be criminally prosecuted for interfering with a police investigation, falsification of evidence, etc.
I agree. So far, though, I think he's only been charged with a parole probation violation for travelling to Newtown.
These reports contradict the mentally-handicapped loner storyline:
(CNN) -- He was a 20-year-old man who, by multiple accounts, was incredibly smart and quiet. He didn't appear to have any run-ins with the law.
the aunt, who lives in Crystal Lake, Illinois, said [sic] he was a very, very bright boy. He was smart.
Alex Israel was in the same class at Newtown High School with Lanza, and lived a few houses down from him.
You could definitely tell he was a genius," Israel told CNN, adding she hadn't talked with him since middle school. [sic]
Autism is not a mental health disorder - it is a neurodevelopmental disorder. ... The eyes of the world are on this wrenching tragedy -- with 1 in 88 now diagnosed, misinformation could easily trigger increased prejudice and misunderstanding.
At a vigil in Newtown, a man of about Adam Lanza’s age was visibly distraught. “I knew Adam in high school,” he said, declining to give his name. “He always seemed like a quiet type. [sic] he excelled in everything,” the man said. “He graduated high school three years early.”
At the vigil, Catherine Urso said her son went to high school with Adam Lanza, [sic] Lanza and his friends, she said, “always gathered [sic] in a corner in the school.”
Lanza was certainly a damaged human being but calling him "mentally handicapped" is somewhat misleading. The expression usually conjures up images of mostly inert, feeble-minded, childlike defectives.
Lanza, on the other hand, appears to have been schizophrenic - a term that is, itself, almost meaningless because it covers so much - but he wasn't inert or drooling. He seems to have been fascinated with violent video-games, reasonably capable of complex and technical thinking, and very unsociable and almost impaired in his ability to carry on a conversation. Some characteristics he may have had when a small child were undoubtedly replaced eventually by very different characteristics. So many people - including many who had scarcely seen him - have 'contributed' conflicting details to his description that it may take a while for the true image of him to manifest.