Palm Beach County man gets 18 month sentence for death threats to Nancy Pelosi, other top women
Friends and family members appealed to a federal court judge on behalf of Paul Hoeffer, who prosecutors say also threatened U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Chicago state attorney Kim Foxx.
A 60-year-old man who made obscenity-laced death threats to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and two other powerful Democratic women has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Paul Hoeffer, who pleaded guilty in January to three charges of making interstate threats, was also slapped with a $2,000 fine by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon during a hearing Friday in Fort Pierce.
Noting that Hoeffer’s threats were not only vulgar but “sexist and racist,” a federal prosecutor pushed Cannon to hand the self-employed tow-truck driver a nearly 3 ½- year sentence.
“The nature and circumstances of this case belie a criminal defendant so consumed with sexist, racist and vitriolic anger that he threatened to kill people,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Luisa Berti told Cannon.
Even a visit by FBI agents didn’t deter him.
After Hoeffer left a message on Pelosi’s office phone in March 2019 saying, “Nancy get ready to get your f****** head cut off Jihadist style,” FBI agents went to his home to talk to him.
Hoeffer apologized and agreed he would not continue to make threatening phone calls.
FBI agents later learned that he left threatening messages for Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx, who is Black. In addition to using racial slurs, he warned the Illinois prosecutor, “Bullets are going to rattle your brain.”
Then, in November 2020, he left a long, crude phone message for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, warning “I’ll rip your head off.”
Hoeffer’s ongoing behavior underscored his beliefs that his actions were justified and that he was above the law, Berti wrote in court papers.
But defense attorney Michael Ohle said once Hoeffer was arrested in November, he cooperated fully with the FBI. He pleaded guilty to the three charges in January to show that he accepted responsibility for his actions, Ohle wrote in court papers, adding that Hoeffer is being treated for cancer.
In letters to Cannon, friends and family members described Hoeffer as a good man, who got swept up in the divisive politics of the nation. They said he has expressed remorse for his behavior and learned from his mistakes.
Ultimately, Cannon sided with Ohle and Hoeffer’s supporters.
The 18-month sentence Cannon imposed is more than a year less than the minimum sentence Hoeffer faced under federal sentencing guidelines.
jmusgrave@pbpost.com