Tampa, Florida \u2013 Benjamin Tucker Patz, a\/k\/a \u201cParlay Patz,\u201d (24, Napa, CA) today pleaded guilty to ‘transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce.’<\/p>\n
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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
The messages included the following string of text sent to one Tampa Bay Rays players:<\/p>\n
\u201cI will sever your neck open you pathetic c**tbag\u201d<\/em> “Unfortunately 0\u20135 against the Chicago White Sox isn\u2019t going to cut it,\u201d Patz wrote in one message. \u201cBecause of your sins, I will have to behead you and your family.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI will enter your home while you sleep\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cAnd sever your neck open\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cI will kill your entire family\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cEveryone you love will soon cease\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cI will cut up your family\u201d and \u201cDismember the[m] alive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n