Tom Liddy and family were threatened by Frederick Francis Goltz
‘Someone needs to get these people AND their children,’ defendant wrote on social media.
Jose R. Gonzalez
Sasha Hupka
Arizona Republic
A Texas man was sentenced by a federal judge Thursday to three and half years in prison for threatening two Maricopa County officials and their families in relation to the 2022 election.
Frederick Francis Goltz, 52, of Lubbock, pleaded guilty on April 21 to one count of interstate threatening communication in targeting Republican officials, County Recorder Stephen Richer, County Attorney’s Civil Division Chief Tom Liddy and poll workers, according to federal court records.
U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, sentenced Goltz to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Court documents state that Goltz’s threats were made in 2022, from July to Nov. 23, in Lubbock County.
According to court documents — filed Dec. 16, 2022, in the U.S. Attorney’s Northern District of Texas — Goltz made threats against Richer, his wife and children on social media. Goltz also made threats on social media against Liddy and his children.
Shared personal info, threatened others
“Hypothetically, a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials in these highly suspect precincts might be the way to go,” Goltz posted on Nov. 14 on the right-wing social media site, Patriots.win under the username FreeSpeechMaster.
On Nov. 21, Goltz posted Liddy’s purported home address and phone number, charging documents show.
“It would be a shame if someone got to this children. There are some crazies out there. This kind of info shouldn’t be readily available on the internet,” Goltz wrote as FreeSpeechMaster, the charging documents state. “Someone needs to get these people AND their children. The children are the most important message to send.”
