A Texas man was sentenced to prison on Thursday for threatening a Boston doctor who works at the National LGBTQ+ Health Education Center in Boston, acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy’s office announced.
Matthew Jordan Linder, 39, of Comfort, Texas was sentenced to three months in prison and three years of supervised released, and was ordered to pay restitution of $2,986. Lindner had pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication in December 2023.
Lindner had called the education center on Aug. 31, 2022, and left a sinister voicemail for one of the doctors, the office said. There had been misinformation spreading online at the time about procedures that doctors were performing for transgender children at Boston Children’s Hospital, the office said.
Read more: Texas man accused of targeting Boston doctor who treats transgender patients
In his voicemail to the Boston doctor, he said, “You sick motherf*****s, you’re all gonna burn. There’s a group of people on their way to handle [victim]. You signed your own warrant, lady. Castrating our children. You’ve woken up enough people. And upset enough of us. And you signed your own ticket. Sleep well, you f****** c***.”
Lindner continued to try to contact the doctor and called the person’s former medical practice and a university where the doctor was a faculty member, the office said.
“This office will aggressively investigate and prosecute acts of hate and intimidation,” Levy said in a news release. “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. Full stop.
“We urge the public to call their local police or the FBI if they are ever threatened with physical harm the way the doctor in this case was simply for doing his or her job.”
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“Imagine the terror of having your life threatened for just doing your job,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said in the release. “Matthew Lindner accosted a physician for doing exactly that, and in doing so instilled unnecessary fear in the medical community.
“Hateful, repulsive, and threatening behavior like this has no place here, and today’s sentence demonstrates that we won’t stand for criminals terrorizing innocent people. Nobody should have to fear becoming the target of vitriol-fueled violence.”
