“A Texas man who suggested a ‘mass shooting of poll workers’ and threatened two Maricopa County officials and their children was sentenced yesterday to three and a half years in federal prison, announced US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton. Frederick Francis Goltz, 52, pleaded guilty in April to interstate threatening communications. According to court documents, Mr Goltz threatened several individuals in Arizona – including a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office lawyer and a Maricopa County elections official – on the far-right-wing social media platforms Patriots.win and Gab.com,” says a Justice Department press release from Thursday.

“In plea papers, Mr Goltz admitted that on Nov 21, 2022, he posted the lawyer’s name, purported home address, and purported telephone number on social media along with the sardonic comment, ‘It would be a shame if someone got to [sic] this children. There are some crazies out there. This kind of info shouldn’t be readily available on the internet.’ On the same date, in response to another post referring to other Maricopa County officials, Mr Goltz said, ‘Someone needs to get these people AND their children. The children are the most important message to send.’ Just two days later, according to court records, Mr Goltz responded to a post about the elections official with the comment, ‘He’s got a WIFE that is a lawyer, too. We need to find out her name and where she works. I don’t think he has kids, but I’m not 100% on that.’ When another user commented that kids should be ‘off limits,’ Mr Goltz responded by saying, ‘NOTHING is off limits. It’s people like you that are supposedly with us, who don’t have the stomach to do what it takes to get our country back.'”

“An FBI investigation into Mr Goltz’s other social media activity revealed a long history of threatening statements against a variety of targets, including government officials, law enforcement officers, and others: For example, according to court records, on Nov 13, 2022, Mr Goltz advocated for ‘a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials’ in precincts he believed had ‘suspect’ results. According to court records, Mr Goltz repeatedly emphasized that ‘children are not off limits,’ and said that going after children is important because ‘it sends a message… people will pay the price for ‘sins of the father.’ Dead children burn into the memories of people.'”