Get Rich or Lie Trying: The Life of Wolfgang Halbig

Wolfgang Halbig

Since early 2014, Wolfgang Halbig, a slick confidence man from Sorrento, Florida has been seeking to profit off the 26 women and children slaughtered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Campaigning as a faux-defender of constitutional rights, Halbig has convinced many gullible Americans to part with their hard money in exchange for a bill of goods that he stands no chance of ever delivering. In return for their investment, Halbig has promised his marks that he will lead an investigation and file federal lawsuits in an effort to prove the victims didn’t really die and that the shooting was actually an elaborate illusion set-up by the U.S. government to scare Americans into giving up their constitutional freedoms. Using discredited conspiracy theories as a pretext and capitalizing off the fear and paranoia generated by other for-profit “patriots,” Halbig has been making the rounds on various radio talk programs, such as the popular Alex Jones Show, plying his trade on disenfranchised working-class U.S. citizens. Halbig has stated that he needs at least $250,000 to accomplish his mission and has thus far raised nearly $100,000 towards that goal. Only a small portion of that money has been accounted for. What Halbig and his complicit family members have managed to keep for themselves has yet to be determined. Exaggerating his meager credentials in law enforcement (less than one year as a Florida Highway Patrolman in 1974) and as a High School teacher, Halbig has managed to amass a cult following of deranged conspiracy theorists that hang on his every word and obey his every order. Many of Halbig’s followers have been engaged in an ongoing gang stalking campaign aimed at harassing and intimidating the grieving families and others personally affected by the tragedy. Some have even acted out violently, made terroristic threats or stolen property from the victims’ families. Most would agree that exploiting a tragic event for personal, political or financial gain is something that should be considered beyond the pale in a civilized society. Yet that’s precisely what some unsavory individuals, like Wolfgang Halbig, have managed to accomplish on the backs of those who have suffered and continue to suffer from one of the most horrific crimes against humanity ever committed on American soil.

2023 in the Life of Wolfgang Halbig, Sandy Hook Hoaxer Wolfgang Halbig, the notorious Sandy Hook hoaxer, doesn’t have much of a social media presence anymore. And ever since Alex Jones publicly learned the hard way how expensive it can be to give Wolfgang airtime, even the scummiest podcasters don’t want to interview him. So you probably didn’t hear much from him last year. But that doesn’t mean he’s been keeping quiet… in fact, he’s been acting just as deranged as ever! Let’s take a look at Wolfgang’s path through 2023 in detail. (If you want to follow along, most of this is available in the Lake County Clerk’s website. Wolfgang’s case number is 35-2020-MM-001628-AXXX-XX)Wolfgang’s Quest to Clear His NameAs of the start of 2023, Wolfgang was still stinging from his January 2020 arrest for harassment. He had managed t...
Part 10: The Long Way Down The Downward SpiralThe contract that Wolfgang Halbig and his cohorts in the National Institute for School and Workplace Safety had landed with the Anne Arrundel school district was a big one. So big, that it got coverage in several Annapolis-area newspapers, as well as the Baltimore Sun. But while Halbig and the gang were celebrating, one detail that they should have kept in mind over the sound of champagne corks popping was that the deal was still tentative; it had been announced that NISWS won the bid, but the contract wasn’t finalized. In fact, many of the school district’s own staff didn’t even find out about the deal until they read about in the newspaper.Unfortunately for Wolfgang, one of those staff members reading the news in early April 2004 was a guy named Michael McNelly, and he was on the school board.  ...
Get Rich or Lie Trying – Part 9 (Wolfgang's Big Score) One in the HandWolfgang and his cohorts from the National Institute for School and Workplace Safety were hard at work in 2000, trying to get their fledgling consulting business off the ground. Reports from the Indian River Press-Journal from September show an example of his pitch: Indian River Press Journal - Sep 2000 This district did indeed go on to purchase training workshops from NISWS, as a result of the safety audit. Indian River Press Journal - Mar 13 2001 Accounts l...
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Wolfgang Halbig FAILS again!Wolfgang Halbig Lawsuit Order Dismissed 2022Wolfgang Halbig Lawsuit Dismissal Recommendation 2022 Filed: February 25, 2022COMPLAINT against Daniel Conlee, Jonah Demko, Todd English, Florida State Attorney, Lake County District Attorney, Lake County, Florida, Lake County, Florida Sheriff, Stephanie Mahaney, Daniel Morales, Michael Morris, Ellory Osterberg, Erica Rodriguez, Joseph Schlabach, Darrel Thomas, Corey Wingo with Jury Demand Filing fee $ 402.00, receipt number OCA-12358 filed ...
Part 8: The Metamorphosis Wolfgang wrapped up 1996 with a milestone: he testified before members of the US House of Representatives, when the Subcommittee on National Security and Criminal Justice came to the city hall in Lake Mary. It was a session on “the drug battle in Central Florida,” and Wolfgang (along with several other school administrators) spoke to the congress members about drugs in Florida schools.He told his story, well-polished by now: state trooper, U.S. Customs, teacher, yadda yadda.  Wolfgang speaks to a congressional subcommittee about school safety, on Oct 14 1996 (from "Report From the Front Line: The Drug Battle in Central Florida") Mostly, his presentation was just a repeat of the demonstration he’d been giving for awhile now, with a “student&#...
Part 7: Principal Halbig and the Fake Bomb Detectors Family BusinessWhen Wolfgang Halbig began his tenure as Assistant Principal at Lyman High School, it marked the end of his coaching career. On his resume, he notes that he was the school’s “Administrator responsible for discipline, drop-out prevention, in-school suspension, Physical Education, Life Management, Drivers Education, school security and School Resource Officers Program.”Meanwhile, shortly after Wolfgang left coaching, the Halbigs appear to have started a new business: “Executive Sports Marketing.” Kathy and Wolfgang start a business in or around November 1989 - Orlando Sentinel Nov 2 I’m actually not sure exactly what this was supposed to be; there were several business with similar names that were active around this time, and it’s not c...
Part 6: The Sebring High Conspiracy The Blue StreaksOK spoiler, first thing: Wolfgang’s coaching tenure at Sebring High is not as brief, nor as disastrous as his first head-coach gig was, back with the Lake Weir Hurricanes (see Part 4). But it is… I dunno, just… weirder. Things start to get weird. And he whines a lot.For starters, just as Wolfgang is rolling into town, back to his old high-school stomping grounds of Highland County, he gives one of his trademark sports-pages interviews to the Tampa Tribune. We get the usual Wolfgang Halbig origin story, conveyed in on a phone interview he had with reporter Frank Ruiz; he writes that Wolfgang says he emigrated at age 13 (so only off by one year, this time).But that’s just the start of the discrepancies. It simply doesn’t sound like Wolfgang was honest in his conversation with this reporter. Almost every detail about his life is off.“Halbig had to turn down a scholarshi...
Part 5: Student Driver Family ManWhen Wolfgang fled Lake Weir, to return to the football program at Vanguard High School, he was surely disappointed that this also meant stepping back down to assistant coach. But it would be a chance to restore his reputation.And there had been better news for 32-year-old Wolfgang, in his personal life. Marriage records show that on April 14, 1979, he married 22-year-old Kathleen Audrey Crace. Wolfgang and Kathleen are wed by a Presbyterian pastor in Ocala, April 1979 Kathy was the daughter of a doctor in the Ocala area, according to Wolfgang’s 2012 deposition. It was her 2nd marriage; the last one ended in divorce on January 6, 1978. That would have been right around the time when Halbig was originally working at Vanguard, before any of the Hurricanes unpleasantness. (Eventually she would ...
Part 4: Coach Wolfgang A Hero’s WelcomeWolfgang Halbig left Lake Weir High School for the 1977-1978 school year, and took a job at Vanguard High School, across town in Ocala. It was another assistant-coach role, but he must have felt he’d have better chances of reaching head coach at the new school. That was what he wanted.His fortunes changed when the head football coach and athletic director back at Lake Weir, Tom Perrin, announced he was retiring at the end of the year. In a March 15, 1978 article from the Ocala Star-Banner, the principal of Lake Weir High, Clyde Folsom, laid out his plans to replace Perrin. He said the basketball team’s head coach, Bobby Hall, would take over as the school’s athletic director. And returning to Lake Weir, now as the new head coach of the football team, would be none other than Wolfgang Halbig. "Coach Halbig Returning ...
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit Part 3: Police Quest Wolfgang Halbig signed up to be Florida State Trooper sometime around the end of 1973. He explained his inspiration for this career change in a 2014 interview with Dave Gahary:I grew up in a little town called Avon Park, Florida. I had so many great role models: coaches, teachers, even a Florida State Trooper ...