Boca Raton woman avoids prosecution after Facebook threats aimed at deputies

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Boca Raton woman who made threatening Facebook posts directed at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office after the death of a K-9 deputy won't be prosecuted for her actions.

Jill Hoffman, 66, instead entered a deferred prosecution agreement Monday that will keep her from facing any prison time, provided she stays out of trouble for one month, pays the $200 cost of prosecution and continues to meet with assistant state attorney Craig Williams.

Hoffman was arrested in January on a charge of written threats to kill or conduct a mass shooting.

According to her arrest affidavit, Hoffman made several threatening posts on Facebook using the name "Michael R. Reed." More than 100 comments, "most of which were negative, accusatory and name calling," were directed at the agency in the days after last year's Christmas Eve shooting death of Cigo, a 3-year-old German shepherd killed in the line of duty.

Among the threatening posts were:

• "I hope all of you are the first to be shot!" Hoffman wrote in response to a post announcing active shooter training for civilians.
• "Your post 'thank you for your support during this extremely difficult time' makes me want to spit in all your faces and rip those badges off your chests."
• After a post about a deputy who built a North Pole mailbox for children, Hoffman wrote, "How about building yourselves coffins and jumping in them. You're going to need them."
• "I swear if I see one more story about this on the news or elsewhere you'll be seeing MY story splashed across every news outlet in the country. I think you know me well enough to know when I am determined to do something it gets done."
• "Great venue for a mass shooting. You don't have the sense you were born with," Hoffman wrote after Citgo's memorial service location was announced.

Hoffman has been out of jail since April, after a motion by her attorney to reduce her bond was granted.

In her motion, assistant public defender Ilana Marcus wrote that Hoffman "suffers from several medical conditions which require ongoing treatment." Marcus argued the divorced mother and nurse has no prior criminal history and is not a risk to the community.