Sarasota County man tells news station he’s going to kill a hotel manager, cops say

Sarasota County sheriff’s deputies say a Venice man threatened to kill a hotel manager and used the media to make the threat.

According to a press release, David Ashworth, 51, contacted a local broadcast news station and said he was planning to kill the manager.

Deputies say Ashworh followed with the threat via email using racial slurs to describe the manager, who Ashworth said overcharged him for his room.

According to the arrest report, Ashworth called the Fox 13 Tampa news station claiming he already has a lawyer who will defend him when “I do what I do next week.”

Deputies say Ashworh admitted to calling the news station, along with other news outlets, as well as sending the threatening email.

The email made reference to a Middle Eastern racial slur toward the manager and said, “When I take him out, you will say I’m the bad guy.”

Ashworth went on to say that he would commit the murder next week because, “He made my girl cry now I must make him die.”

Detectives located Ashworth over the weekend at his home and charged him with written threats to kill, a felony. He was booked into the Sarasota County jail and is was being held on a $7,500 bond on Monday.