Antisemitic Flyers Distributed In Sarasota County Neighborhoods Friday Morning: Police

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Complaints of antisemitic flyers distributed throughout Sarasota County neighborhoods are being investigated, authorities said.

In January, there were similar complaints madein Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Sarasota police received at least six complaints from city residents on Friday, according to a case report from the agency.

“The Sarasota Police Department is aware of the flyers. We received calls about them Friday morning,” Genevieve Judge, public information officer, told Patch. “From our understanding, this has happened in Sarasota County and neighboring counties, as well as throughout Florida.”

When Sarasota police met with a complainant in the 1800 block of Rose Street on Friday morning, several of her neighbors told officers they also received antisemitic propaganda and wanted to be added to the case report.

Residents in the 1800 block of Roe Street, the 1700 block of Cherokee Drive, the 1500 block of Flower Drive and the 1700 block of South Drive told police that antisemitic flyers were left near their homes, according to the report. The flyers were left in their driveways overnight in a brown paper bag.

One flyer was titled, “Every single aspect of Covid agenda is Jewish,” according to the case report. Another flyer read, “Anti-Semitism is a Human Right” and “Let’s Go Brandon.”

“It appears this was not a targeted event based on the widespread area of which the bags were distributed,” Officer Christie wrote in the report.

Meanwhile, though the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t received specific threats, the agency is working with its partners at the Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate these reports, Kaitlyn Perez, community affairs director, told Patch.

More than 100 small, clear sandwich bags containing rice and antisemitic flyers were collected from homes in the area of the 1500 block of South Lake Shore Drive in Sarasota on Friday, according to a sheriff’s office incident report. The bags contained rice and antisemitic flyers.

One flyer claimed specific Jewish people are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pfizer, Vanguard, and other pharmaceutical or COVID-19 related companies, according to the incident report. The SCSO report didn’t include the names of specific people mentioned. A second flyer had a caricature of actor Whoopi Goldberg on it.

An 80-year-old woman who lived in the area “expressed concerns that the flyers may be an indicator of larger incidents planned,” according to the report.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sarasota police at 941-316-1199 or SCSO’s Investigations Bureau at 941-861-4900.

The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee is working closely with its SRQ Safe Initiative to monitor reports of antisemitic flyers in Sarasota neighborhoods, Shep Englander, CEO, shared on Facebook Friday.

“Law enforcement was notified immediately and an investigation is ongoing. We will keep the community informed as we receive updates,” Englander wrote. “In the meantime, if you observe or have evidence of antisemitic actions, please contact your local police and also go to our webpage, where you can report an incident.”

Threats made to the Jewish community in Sarasota and Manatee counties can be reported to the Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee online here.

The Anti-Defamation League in Florida also spoke out against the flyers, sharing on Facebook that they’re “perpetuating harmful and hateful conspiracy theories which have no place in our communities.”