Police arrests religious zealot for bothering high school students

A man is after yelling at high school students, shouting religious rhetoric as they were dismissed from class.

Police arrested Matthew Meinecke, 33, for trespassing and disturbing the peace as he was proselytizing to students as they left Fort Myers High School Friday afternoon.

“The guy was out there, you know, he was speaking about Jesus and God to the kids, which is no problem to that,” said Crystal Zavala, a parent. “It’s just that he was starting to interact with the kids and it’s really not a place to be messing with people’s kids. You know what I mean?”

An arrest report said Meinecke stepped off the sidewalk and onto school grounds, impeding parents picking up their kids.

“If you’re causing a disruption, that could be used to kind of silence you,” said Daniel Garza, a criminal defense attorney at Wilbur Smith Attorneys at Law in Fort Myers.

Garza said while Meinecke’s stunt was protected under the first amendment, there are times when it is not.

“You can’t just walk into a school and start yelling things if you’re disrupting the normal process of a school,” Garza said.

While his message was harmless, parents and students agree it had no business at a high school.

“I get that it’s freedom of speech and everything,” said Carson Maschmeier, a student. “But, it’s just you know when you’re out there and you’re kind of being a nuisance.”