Texan admits he called in death threat to Fenway doctor who cares for transgender patients

Update: Sentencing rescheduled for Feb. 22.

A Comfort, TX man pleaded guilty today to one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication for death-threat calls he made to a doctor at the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at the Fenway Institute in August, 2022.

Matthew Jordan Lindner, 39, potentially faces prison time of up to five years in prison at his sentencing, set for Feb. 6. Under a plea deal, the US Attorney's office will recommend a sentence of three months and restitution of $2,986. US District Court Judge William Young, however, is free to disregard the recommendation.

The plea means his lawyers will not get a chance to try to convince a federal jury that calling a doctor he didn't know 2,000 miles away to say she's "gonna burn" and that "there are people on the way" to deal with her is protected speech under the First Amendment and not a "true threat."

According to prosecutors, Lindner wound himself up reading online about bogus claims that Children's Hospital was performing sex-change operations on children. He found the name and affiliation of the Fenway Institute doctor and called the center's main number and left this voice mail - the day after Children's Hospital and part of the Longwood Medical Area were shut down due to a hoax bomb threat:

You sick motherfuckers, you’re all gonna burn. There’s a group of people on their way to handle [Victim 1]. 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 fuckin’ cunt.

Prosecutors say he also called the doctor's former medical practice and a Rhode Island university where she teaches to leave similar messages.

Before agreeing to plead guilty, Lindner's attorneys first filed two motions to dismiss the case, one arguing they did not think the call to the Fenway really rose to the level of "recklessness" required to prove he was making "true threats" rather than simply making a political statement on a contentious issue, the other arguing more specifically that he was protected by the First Amendment:

[T]he defense believes that based on the defense investigation that upwards of 30,000 persons viewed the same false news media reports that reported that the physician for whom Lindner left his voicemail message was castrating children. Also, it appears that upwards of 3,000 of those persons made disapproving comments on social media platforms. Yet, none of those persons have been prosecuted for voicing their disapproval and exercising their freedom of speech concerning the same situation.

Prosecutors rebutted:

Here, in the wake of social media discourse and traditional media coverage regarding the availability of gender-affirming care for young people in the transgender community, Lindner decided to deploy threats designed to prevent Victim 1 from offering medical services that many parents seek on behalf of their children. Lindner read information on social media and news reports and chose to seek out Victim 1, a medical professional working thousands of miles away, who he had never met. Based on his opposition to the kind of medical care Victim 1 provides, Lindner found Victim 1's telephone number at the Center. He called the Center and left his anonymous voicemail, indicating that Victim 1 and others were "all gonna burn." Lindner elaborated with the ominous warning that "[t]here's a group of people on their way to handle" Victim 1, a reference to a seemingly anonymous group who planned to travel to harm Victim 1. Lindner continued by informing Victim 1 that Victim 1 had "signed [Victim 1's] own warrant" or "ticket." And he concluded with an obviously insincere exhortation that Victim 1 "sleep well," followed by a vulgar slur. In context, these statements fall squarely within the spectrum of communications that a reasonable jury could conclude constitute true threats.

Young set a hearing for today on one of the dismissal motions. But last week, the two sides notified him they had reached a potential plea deal and he changed the subject of today's hearing to that.

Lindner is the second transphobe to plead guilty to criminal harassment related to an August wave of harassment targeting Boston doctors. Catherine Leavy of Westfield pleaded guilty in September to making the call that shut down Children's Hospital the day before Lindner made his calls.

She is scheduled for sentencing on March 19 on counts of making a false bomb threat and intentionally conveying false or misleading information that a bomb was on the way.