Texas man arrested, charged with threatening Boston physician caring for transgender youngsters

A Texas man who authorities say threatened a Boston physician offering care to transgender individuals was arrested Friday on federal expenses. 

The suspect, identified by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as 38-year-old Matthew Jordan Lindner of Humble, Texas, was charged with one depend of transmitting interstate threats. He made his first look in a Texas courtroom Friday afternoon, and is predicted to look in federal courtroom in Boston at a later date. 

Lindner allegedly harassed and threatened to kill a feminine doctor on the Boston-based National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, focusing on her particularly of her work caring for gender non-conforming youngsters, in response to an announcement from Joseph R. Bonavolonta, particular agent in command of the FBI Boston Division.  

Charging paperwork allege that on Aug. 31, Lindner referred to as the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center after misinformation unfold on-line about procedures at Boston Children’s Hospital. Lindner left a violent message focusing on one of many heart’s affiliated medical doctors, the Justice Department stated. 

Lindner allegedly stated “a group of people” had been “on their way to handle” the unidentified sufferer, stated the sufferer would “burn,” and stated that the sufferer and others of their discipline had “upset enough of us” and “signed (their) own ticket,” federal prosecutors stated. The message additionally included a gender-based slur and accused the sufferer of “castrating” youngsters.  

The cost in opposition to Linder carries a most sentence of as much as 5 years in jail.   

“While everyone has a right to express their opinion, they don’t have a right to use or threaten violence against individuals who do not share their same set of beliefs,” Bonavolonta stated. “No one should have to live in fear of violence because of who they are, what kind of work they do, where they are from, or what they believe. This case is unfortunately one of many others that illustrates FBI Boston’s commitment to thwarting potential violent incidents motivated by hate and bias and holding the individuals behind them accountable.”

This will not be the primary time that misinformation associated to Boston Children’s Hospital has resulted in threats. In September, Catherine Leavy, of Westfield, Massachusetts, was taken into custody on allegations she had referred to as in a false bomb menace in opposition to the hospital on Aug. 30, simply someday earlier than Lindner allegedly made his telephone name. 

At the time, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins stated that Boston Children’s Hospital had been the topic of a couple of dozen related threats. In October, three main medical associations, together with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, requested Attorney General Merrick Garland to analyze and prosecute related threats. 

Several dozen House Democrats signed onto a letter despatched to Garland on Nov. 18 requesting that the DOJ define steps it’s taking to counter anti-transgender threats made in opposition to well being care suppliers. 

In the news launch saying Linder’s arrest, Rollins on Friday stated that the Justice Department “has pledged to protect the rights of the gender nonconforming and transgendered community, which includes the health care providers who render care and support.”