A 68-year-old St. Petersburg man is facing a felony charge after Pinellas County detectives say he posted a written threat to kill a sitting county commissioner. Rodolfo Mienert was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County Jail on one count of written threats to kill, accused of targeting Commissioner Brian Scott in a Facebook comment tied to a local land-use vote.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest Tuesday, saying detectives had arrested Mienert for written threats to kill the commissioner. According to TampaFP, Mienert was formally charged with one felony count of written threats to kill after being booked into the county jail.
TampaFP reports that detectives opened the investigation on Nov. 2 after receiving a tip about a hostile comment left on a local news outlet's Facebook page. The outlet's reporting indicates the comment was posted in response to a Nov. 1 post that criticized Scott for voting to approve a mosque expansion.
Tracing the Comment Back to a St. Petersburg Home
Investigators traced the IP address linked to the comment to Mienert's St. Petersburg home, the station's report states. Mienert went on to confirm that the social media account in question belonged to him, according to the same account.
Per TampaFP's reporting, investigators said Mienert spent 22 years with the New York City Police Department before retiring as a sergeant. The outlet's coverage does not detail what, if anything, Mienert has said about the allegations since his arrest.
Sheriff Vows Strict Enforcement
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri addressed the arrest directly, saying the office would strictly enforce the law against anyone who makes threats of this nature, per TampaFP. Under Florida Statute 836.10, a qualifying written or electronic threat to kill or cause bodily harm is classified as a second-degree felony.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
posted the arrest announcement on X under the handle @SheriffPinellas, noting that the account is not monitored around the clock and directing non-emergency inquiries to 727-582-6200.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Pinellas County
This is not the first time Pinellas County law enforcement has pursued a written-threats case tied to public figures or institutions. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the FBI arrested a Seminole man, identified as Martin Alan Schnitzler, 43, for threatening a Pinellas mosque, with the paper noting he could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The sheriff's office has also announced other written-threats arrests in recent memory, including a Pinellas Park man accused of threatening to kill or conduct a mass shooting and, separately, an 11-year-old Seminole Middle School student arrested on a similar allegation in February 2025. Those cases remain distinct from the allegations against Mienert, but they reflect how aggressively the agency has pursued threat-related charges across the county.
