A Texas man, Matthew Jordan Lindner, has been sentenced to three months in federal prison for threatening a Boston doctor affiliated with a national LGBTQIA+ health education center. This sentence was announced last Thursday by a Massachusetts federal judge, following Lindner’s earlier guilty plea to one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication in December 2023.
The sentencing comes after federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts requested that the court accept the plea agreement. As per the agreement, Lindner is to serve three months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. Additionally, Lindner is required to pay restitution to the affected party, amounting to $2,986. The full details of the plea agreement can be found in the sentencing memo filed on Monday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy voiced his support of the ruling, stating “This office will aggressively investigate and prosecute acts of hate and intimidation. Threatening a medical doctor providing essential care to children is deplorable. No one in this country should live in fear for their safety because of their identity, gender, race, religion, or beliefs.”
The sentencing of Lindner takes place within a larger context of threats directed towards healthcare professionals in the U.S., detailed in an NPR report from August 2022. Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, further emphasised the gravity of these threats, stating, “Hateful, repulsive, and threatening behavior like this has no place here… Nobody should have to fear becoming the target of vitriol-fueled violence.”