Leader of far-right COVID-denying group arrested over Facebook threats to law enforcement

The top member of a Nevada-based far-right group has been arrested for Facebook posts wishing "a slow and painful death" on a district attorney and a police officer who were involved in his past criminal cases, the Daily Beast reports.

While his group, The People's Rights Network, protested COVID-19 restrictions, Joshua Martinez, 32, took his grudges with local law enforcement to the next level -- grudges which stem from arguments over his right to film inside a courthouse and convictions on gun charges in 2019.

In a pair of Facebook posts last week, Martinez allegedly threatened a detective and a prosecutor from his 2019 case by wishing for their deaths. He now faces charges for stalking, threats, and firearm possession.

"This is Michael Dickerson. He is Detective Kenneth Mead's b*tch. Dickerson, I hope you and Mead die a slow and painful death… Mead, I have a message for you—Molon Labe," Martinez allegedly wrote on Feb. 17 in a now-deleted post.

In another post which is still live, he posted a picture of police officers carrying a casket with the caption, "How police officers take out their trash." He added, "I can't wait to see the news and hear that Detective Kenneth Mead is in that casket."

Prosecutors say Martinez has been threatening Dickerson and Mead since 2017 in a harassment campaign that "would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or harassed."

The People's Rights movement emerged early last year, largely in opposition to COVID restrictions and is led by Ammon Bundy, the anti-government figure who made headlines following a pair of armed standoffs with federal agents in 2014 and 2016.