UPDATED: Prince William County sheriff's deputy fired for 'disturbing' comments on social media

A Prince William County Sheriff’s deputy has been fired for making “disturbing comments” on social media accounts, Sheriff Glendell Hill said Saturday.

The former deputy, Aaron Hoffman, has reportedly denied he made the posts, however, and says he believes his account on "Parler," a social media website favored by political conservatives, was hacked.

Hill did not identify the deputy by name and did not answer an email seeking that information on Saturday. But Hoffman identified himself to the Washington Post and Fox 5 News. 

Hoffman was fired on Saturday, Dec. 26, after Hill launched an internal investigation into the social media posts, which were reported to his office on Christmas Day, Hill said in an email.

“Early yesterday, our agency was notified about disturbing comments being made on several social media outlets by a deputy sheriff,” Hill wrote. “I was notified and ordered an internal affairs investigation. The investigation has concluded and the deputy has been terminated from employment with our office.”

The Parler posts allegedly made by Hoffman, who went by the handle "we the people warrior," were first brought to light by Molly Conger, a Charlottesville freelance journalist. Conger connected the "we the people warrior" account to an alias Facebook page used by Hoffman. On that Facebook page, Hoffman posted pictures of himself in his Prince William County Sheriff's Office uniform and squad car.

Posts on the "we the people warrior" Parler account threatened violence against public officials in general and against former President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in particular.

In a post criticizing Roberts for dismissing the Texas lawsuit that attempted to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, we the people warrior wrote that Roberts' life "needs to be shortened."

In another post discouraging like-minded conservative activists from protesting, we the people warrior encouraged people to instead "remove" objectionable elected officials from their homes.

"Take back your state capitals," the post reads, in part. "Find the homes of every governor, mayor, attorney general, liberal judge, senator, congressman and every major media/social media CEO. Find them. Remove them from their sanctuary. Bring the nightmare to where they lay their heads and kiss their loved ones. Show them that they are NOT untouchable."

"This is not an overthrow of the government," the posts continues. "This is taking out the trash and cleansing our house."

Conger's Twitter posts had been retweeted more than 1,000 times as of Saturday.

The Prince William Times' attempts to reach Hoffman for comment have so far not been successful.