Venezuelan Who Made Repeated Death Threats After Sandy Hook Shootings Pleads Guilty

CONNECTICUT  – A Venezuelan man who made threatening phone calls to residents of Newton, Connecticut, shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting  plead guilty Thursday, officials announced Friday.

Wilfrido A. Cardenas Hoffman, 31, of  El Hatillo, Venezuela, was arrested on June 21 in Miami as he transitioned through Miami International Airport to Mexico from Venezuela, according to authorities.

According to court documents,  on December 16, 2012, two days after the shooting that claimed 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Cardenas Hoffman used a voice over application on an iPod to make numerous phone calls from his home in Venezuela to Newton residents.

In one of the telephone calls, Hoffman stated: “This is Adam Lanza. I’m gonna [expletive] kill you. You’re dead. You’re dead. You hear me? You’re dead.” In another phone call, Hoffman stated: “This is Adam Lanza. I’m gonna kill you. You’re dead. With my machine gun. You’re dead [expletive].”

Officials said the investigation revealed that Cardenas Hoffman made more than 90 calls to about 47 telephone numbers of Newtown residences.  Not all of the calls were successfully placed and answered.

“Mr. Hoffman’s actions in the days after December 14, 2012, further victimized an already vulnerable community” stated FBI Special Agent in Charge Patricia M. Ferrick.

Cardenas Hoffman is facing up to five years in prison.  He will be sentenced in March.