Homeless man arrested for sending death threats to multiple people, including members of Hare Krishna Temple

Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Madhavendra Puri Popoff, 28, has been charged with sending death threats to his brother and members of the Hare Krishna Temple in Alachua.

On December 26, 2024, Popoff’s brother told an Alachua County Sheriff’s (ASO) Deputy that he had received threatening text messages over the past two days, and he believed they were sent by Popoff.

The texts reportedly said, “Your [sic] gonna die spitting blood after I burn your house down and kill your family,” “I’m gonna kill every single one of you,” and “I’m gonna shoot you”; the messages explicitly mentioned harming “your wife and all your children.”

On December 27, a second victim reported that she had received text messages that included, “You [expletive] krsna [sic] people are all gonna rot in hell your [sic] so evil and twisted” and “I should kill everyone at the temple,” apparently referring to the Hare Krishna Temple in Alachua.

The second victim said she recognized the phone number as belonging to Popoff.

An ASO detective found that some of the threats were sent using fake numbers generated by TextNow, and a search warrant to TextNow reportedly produced text message data that was consistent with the messages reported by the victims. Two email addresses were also associated with the account, and one of those was reportedly linked to a Google Pay account in the name of Madhavendra Popoff.

Sworn complaints in both cases were filed in February, and a warrant for Popoff’s arrest was issued in March for the first case; he has not been booked on the second case.

Popoff, who is described in court documents as homeless, has been charged with sending a written threat to kill and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. He has misdemeanor convictions for drug and traffic offenses. Judge Susanne Wilson Bullard ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s office to hold him without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.