Man threatened to lynch NAACP president, cops say

A 75-year-old man has been arrested on hate crime charges after Gainesville police say he threatened to lynch the president of the Alachua County NAACP chapter.

Ronald Morris Wadford, listed as a homeless Gainesville man, was arrested Thursday on a warrant for two counts of aggravated stalking, according to jail and court records.

In November 2016, police say, Wadford called NAACP President Evelyn Foxx six times from Nov. 9, 2016 to Nov. 21, 2016. He said he was with the Ku Klux Klan and was going to her house to lynch her, according to a sworn complaint from the Gainesville Police Department filed Dec. 30, 2016.

The affidavit says that, during these calls, Wadford threatened Foxx by stating, "I'm going to hang your (racial slur) ass."

Out of fear following the threats, police say, Foxx went out of state to stay with family for a few weeks. Then she lived out of the county when she returned to Florida because she was afraid of staying at her home.

Foxx told The Sun she went to Wadford’s first court appearance Friday morning.

“I had to see this man,” she said. “He’s been looking over my shoulder for almost two years." Foxx called the last two years “torture” and recalled being afraid to sit on her back porch at night.

The person she saw Friday morning was a disturbed man, Foxx said.

“I could see the hate and bigotry in his eyes,” she said. “It was not a big deal to him.”

Foxx said Wadford being behind bars has made her feel more comfortable, but if he is deemed mentally ill by a judge, she said she still hopes he can get the help he needs.

“I’m just glad this part of it is over. If I ever have the opportunity, I would ask him why, and I would tell him I love him,” Foxx said. “Love conquers hate and that’s the only way we’re going to change our society for the better.”

According to the police affidavit, a witness said Wadford was very racist and has a lot of "hate and violence in his heart." The witness said that Wadford collects knives and machetes and has spoken about "going out in a blaze of glory."

Wadford has an extensive criminal history in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina, according to the affidavit. His charges include multiple counts of cocaine and narcotics possessions and sales, weapons possession and "maiming."

An email from GPD spokesman Ben Tobias says that on July 3, 2017, someone threw a Confederate flag in Foxx's front yard. The person or people who did that have not been identified.

Wadford, who was wanted for the threats, was spotted by a police detective in downtown Gainesville and arrested. His bail was set at $500,000.