Facebook threat about 'butchering' officers leads to arrest of Arkansas man

Damon Zane Briscoe
Damon Zane Briscoe

A Camden man was arrested Wednesday, accused of threatening to kill police after seeing an Ouachita County sheriff's office's Facebook request to turn in fathers who aren't paying child support.

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Camden police Sgt. Ben Opelt said Damon Zane Briscoe, 29, was booked into the county jail around noon on a charge of terroristic threatening.

The county jail roster on the jail's website showed he was being held without bail on the terroristic threatening charge and two counts of failure to appear. His court date was listed as July 6.

Opelt said Briscoe, under the Facebook name Zane Merritt, posted a profanity-laced message Tuesday criticizing the sheriff's office's program called Operation Father's Day and calling law enforcement officers "scumbags."

The posting threatened to "level the playing field and start running up in these pigs' houses and butchering them in front of their families," according to Opert, who read a copy of the posting that had been removed from Briscoe's Facebook page.

Briscoe was not among those included in photos that were part of the sheriff's office's post regarding Operation Father's Day.

Despite the alias on the Facebook page, Opert said, officers knew who Briscoe was because, among other things, his photo was on the page.

The police department received a phone call from Briscoe's employer who said he planned to fire Briscoe over the Facebook posting and wanted police there in case there was trouble, Opert said.

Opert said police decided to pre-empt any possible trouble at his job and arrest Briscoe before work. Several officers went to his home about 8:30 a.m. and arrested him without incident, he said.

"Once the chief and everyone got here, we met and set the plan in motion," Opert said. "It's not something we take lightly here."

The sheriff's office Facebook page displayed photos of 21 men listed as "Wanted Person Outstanding Child Support" under the heading of Operation Father's Day.

"With Father's Day soon approaching, the Ouachita County Sheriff's Department will actively be searching for fathers that have failed to pay child support to their children. Anyone with any information on these subjects is asked to contact the Ouachita County Sheriff's Department (870) 231-5300," the page read.

The Facebook site also included another page called Operation Mommy Roundup with Wanted Person posters on three women that were similar to the men's posters.

The page said because of the "great success of Operation Father's Day," the sheriff's office asked people to help locate the three women listed on the page.

State Desk on 06/09/2016

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