Crown Of Thorns Kook Gets Collared

MARCH 6--A man wearing a crown of thorns and carrying a piñata menaced an elderly woman as she walked to work yesterday morning, according to Florida cops who say the suspect denied accosting the victim and claimed he was only “singing and dancing to his leprechaun song.”

As alleged in an arrest report, Ruth Bullard, a 74-year-old realtor, called 911 to report that a man approached her and began “screaming at the top of his lungs” a series of “horrible profanities.”

Bullard said the encounter left her “frightened to death.” As she recounted the 10 AM incident, police noted, Bullard “appeared to be emotionally distraught and began crying.”

Cops identified the suspect as Gregory Zopff, 37, a notorious Hobe Sound nuisance whose has an extensive criminal history that includes battery, trespassing, harassment, disorderly conduct, and drug charges.

After being read his rights, Zopff told deputies he was “singing and dancing to his leprechaun song and continued to repeat that he was just singing.” Zopff was thereafter arrested for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, and booked into the county jail on a $150 bond.

Last week, Zopff pleaded no contest to threatening workers and customers at a Hobe Sound delicatessen. The victims, cops reported, had declined to give the panhandling Zopff any money.

Pictured above, Zopff was sentenced to the time he served in custody following his January 29 arrest. At the time of that collar, witnesses reported that Zopff “was in black clothing with a crown of thorns on his head and he had a Chuckie doll.” (1 page)