Tampa, Florida – Benjamin Tucker Patz, a/k/a “Parlay Patz,” (24, Napa, CA) today pleaded guilty to ‘transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce.’
According to the plea agreement, on July 20, 2019, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team lost a home game to the Chicago White Sox. That same day, four Rays’ players, as well as a player for the Chicago White Sox, received direct messages on Instagram from Patz in which he threatened to carry out acts of violence against them.
The messages included the following string of text sent to one Tampa Bay Rays players:
“I will sever your neck open you pathetic c**tbag”
“I will enter your home while you sleep”
“And sever your neck open”
“I will kill your entire family”
“Everyone you love will soon cease”
“I will cut up your family” and “Dismember the[m] alive.”
“Unfortunately 0–5 against the Chicago White Sox isn’t going to cut it,” Patz wrote in one message. “Because of your sins, I will have to behead you and your family.”
Officials said Patz, who is a gambler, sent the messages “knowing that they would be viewed by the player and his family members as a true threat to injure the person of another.”
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
