Knife-Carrying Pacewitz Visitor Is Arrested : Crime: A man presented himself at the County Jail and said he was a preacher eager to ‘save’ suspect in the murder of girl, 3. He also was quoted as making veiled threats.

A 26-year-old man who said he was a preacher eager to “save” murder suspect Michael Pacewitz was arrested while carrying a large knife into the Orange County Jail, officials said Friday.

Sheriff’s authorities said Daniel Lee Giles of Fullerton made veiled threats on Pacewitz’s life and mentioned newspaper accounts detailing the March 3 stabbing death of 3-year-old Marcelline Onick. Pacewitz, 21, confessed to the murder last Saturday, police said, and he later told reporters that he was ordered by Satan to kill the toddler.

On Tuesday evening, Giles walked up to the deputy on duty at an outdoor guard station for the maximum security portion of the jail. He held up a Bible and identified himself as a preacher who wished to visit Pacewitz, Sheriff’s Department Lt. Randy Blair said.

“He then began quoting verses from the Bible and using such words as ‘thou’ and ‘thy,’ ” Blair recounted. “The deputy became suspicious because this guy was avoiding his direct questions. When (the deputy) asked him why he was there, he replied, ‘Is not the word of God reason enough?’ His behavior was definitely a little bit bizarre.”

The deputy refused Giles entry when “he started saying things like, ‘They’re not going to let him leave here alive, are they?’ ” Blair said, reading from a complaint filed with the district attorney’s office.

Giles then pulled a buck knife with an 8 1/2-inch blade out of his clothing, dropped it into a tray at the guard station, and said, according to Blair: “I guess I’m not going to need this any longer.”

Giles was arrested a short time later for carrying a dangerous weapon into a jail, Blair said. He remains in the County Jail.

It was not clear whether Giles knows Pacewitz personally or had just read about the slaying of Marcelline Onick and Pacewitz’s arrest.

But Blair said that Giles’ intention to harm Pacewitz was clear.

“From the (possession of) the knife, coupled with his statements, that was his inference,” Blair said.

Pacewitz is scheduled to be arraigned in Municipal Court in Fullerton Friday for one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. The latter charges stem from a March 2 knife attack by Pacewitz on his mother and her boyfriend in their Anaheim apartment.