Crime
California man who threatened to kill Rep. Gaetz sentenced to 6 months house arrest
Huelsman was reportedly a successful Hollywood camera operator prior to incident
July 29, 2022 9:14am
Updated: July 30, 2022 9:10am
A California man has been sentenced to six months of home confinement for making a death threat to GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz.
Eugene Huelsman, 59, pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge for leaving a threatening voicemail message at Gaetz’s district office in Pensacola, Fla., and was sentenced by a federal judge there Thursday to a half-year of house arrest, according to Politico.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II, sentenced Huelsman, according to court records obtained by Politico. The judge also reportedly ordered Huelsman to serve five years of probation and pay a $10,000 fine.
"Tell [Gaetz] to watch his back, tell him to watch his children,” Huelsman said in the message on Jan. 9, 2021, three days after the Capitol riot. "I’m coming for him ... I’m gonna f---ing kill him. ..."
Huelsman was reportedly a successful Hollywood camera operator prior to the incident.
An attorney for Huelsman said his client’s voicemail message was an outpouring of emotion triggered by the Capitol riot.
"The timing of it is exactly why he did it," the attorney told Politico.
