FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida woman accused of threatening the parent of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting because she thought it was a hoax appeared Monday in court.

Lucy Richards, 57, pleaded not guilty Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale.

Richards was arrested Dec. 7 in Tampa on four felony counts of transmitting threats to Lenny Pozner, the father of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, who died in the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The Richards case is being prosecuted in Fort Lauderdale.

According to a federal indictment, Richards threatened Pozner, saying, among other things, that "death is coming to you real soon."

Others linked to the Sandy Hook massacre have reported harassment by conspiracy theorists who claim that the event was staged to erode support for Second Amendment gun rights.

Richards was appointed a public defender.

Attorneys declined to comment about the case to Local 10 News.