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‘Vampyre’ candidate is jailed on warrants

AP, via Pioneer Press, USA
Feb. 1, 2006
www.twincities.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Wednesday February 1, 2006

Indiana seeks long-shot Sharkey on warrants

MILACA, Minn. — A fringe candidate for Minnesota governor who played up his satanic side — and pledged public impalement for terrorists — wound up behind bars Tuesday thanks to a sharp-eyed sheriff’s dispatcher.

Jonathon Sharkey, 41, of Princeton was arrested Monday night on two felony counts from Indiana, said Mike Smith, the Mille Lacs County jail administrator. One warrant was for escape, another for stalking.

Sharkey launched his gubernatorial campaign last month under the banner of the Vampyres, Witches and Pagans party. His platform includes an emphasis on education, tax breaks for farmers and better benefits for veterans, but he also said he favored impaling certain wrongdoers in front of the state Capitol.

Mille Lacs County Sheriff Brent Lindgren said a dispatcher making routine warrant queries discovered Sharkey’s warrants. Lindgren said the dispatcher had seen news stories about Sharkey’s campaign and recognized the name on the warrant — Rocky Flash — as a name Sharkey had used as a professional wrestler.

Princeton police arrested Sharkey without incident, Lindgren said. Sharkey remained in jail Tuesday pending extradition proceedings.

Roger Rayl, a spokesman in the Marion County, Ind., prosecutor’s office, confirmed outstanding warrants for Sharkey but didn’t immediately have details on the cases.

Sharkey has formed a campaign committee for governor, but actual filing doesn’t occur until July.