LAKEWOOD - A Howell man has been charged with making second degree terroristic threats after police said he wanted to assault members of the township’s Orthodox Jewish community with a baseball bat.

Anthony Lodespoto, 43, of Howell, was arrested Friday after Lakewood police were notified of a “bias terroristic threat” made through Facebook Messenger the night before, said Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith, a police spokesman.

Lodespoto had threatened “to travel to Lakewood with the purpose of assaulting members of the Jewish community with a baseball bat,” said the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in its own statement Friday night.

Earlier in the day Friday, the New Jersey State Police notified Lakewood Police that Lodespoto had sent a similar direct message to Gov. Phil Murphy’s Facebook account, said Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer and Lakewood Police Chief Gregory Meyer.

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Detective Sgt. Nate Reyes, Detectives Patrick Kearns and Tyler Distefano confirmed that the author of the post was Lodespoto, Staffordsmith said.

In his post, Lodespoto “made specific threats to cause harm to members of the Jewish community for not complying with the orders set forth” by the Murphy administration, Staffordsmith explained.

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The detectives arrested Lodespoto at his Dutch Valley Road in Howell around 3:45 p.m. Friday without incident. He was taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River where he was listed as an inmate on Friday night.

“As chief law enforcement officer of Ocean County, it is my sworn duty to enforce the law and protect all of our residents,” Billhimer said. “To that end, employing a public health crisis and worldwide pandemic as an excuse to propagate hate and fear is unconscionable. This behavior is contrary to law and will not be tolerated. I am keenly aware these are extraordinarily stressful times, but that does not give anyone license to engage in violent behavior or threaten to commit violent acts. The statements made by this individual were not an exercise in free speech; rather, they exhibited an abhorrence to the values of a free and civilized society.”

Billhimer said Lodespoto would be charged with the crime of making terroristic threats during a state of emergency and that he would remain behind bars at least until he appears before a state Superior Court judge for a detention hearing.

Murphy on Thursday condemned people who have used the coronavirus pandemic to heap scorn on the local Jewish community.

Murphy said some on social media have seized on incidents in which Lakewood residents have been charged for hosting weddings and other gatherings in violation of statewide restrictions to condemn the community as a whole.

The governor met with Jewish community leaders Wednesday who expressed concern about anti-Semitism fueled by the outbreak.

Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com