Man Busted For Sign Language Death Threat
Police say menacing message was in video text
OCTOBER 6--A man jailed for allegedly threatening the life of a woman transmitted the menacing message in sign language via a video text, Florida police say.
Robert Sowle, 35, was arrested Monday evening on a felony charge and booked into the Pinellas County jail. Locked up on $10,000 bond, he is scheduled for a court 
appearance this afternoon.
According to a criminal complaint, Sowle sent the victim a video text on September 28 “describing in sign language ‘I’ll kill you. OK? I’ll kill you.’”
The woman told police that Sowle, who is deaf, was upset because he believed she took his mail. Sowle lives at the Silver Lake mobile home park in St. Petersburg, though the landlord this month filed an eviction lawsuit against him and his ex-girlfriend for nonpayment of several months of their $1340 rent.
Sowle’s relationship to the target of the alleged threat is unclear since the complaint contains redactions made by law enforcement officials due to “confidential victim information” contained in the document.
The victim, cops say, “was in fear the defendant would cause harm to her.”
Pictured above in a photo recently posted to Facebook, Sowle relocated to Florida from Michigan, where his rap sheet included multiple convictions for domestic violence, as well convictions for assault and resisting police. (1 page)
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