Frederick Francis Goltz, 51, is being held at the Lubbock County Detention Center on a federal warrant after being arrested by the FBI on Dec. 20. He is accused of posting a series of threatening messages on social media sites.
According to the criminal complaint, on Nov. 13, the FBI National Threat Operations Center received information that a user called “FreeSpeech-Master” posted a threatening message on Patriots.win, a social media, The complaint then says on Nov. 14, “FreeSpeechMaster” posted, “Hypothetically, a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials in these highly suspect precincts might be the way to go.”
The comment was in response to a post titled, “Surprise, surprise, Nevada’s election monitoring cameras went out overnight on the 10th and then the votes started pouring in for the Democrat to finally take the lead. Any GOPer who refuses to acknowledge the rigging in 2020 and now 2022 needs to be EXCOMMUNICATED.”
According to the complaint, on Nov. 21, “FreeSpeechMaster” posted the name, address, phone number, and fax number of an election poll worker and commented, “It would be a shame if someone got to [his] children. There are some crazies out there. This kind of info shouldn’t be readily available on the internet.”
The FBI contacted the election poll worker the user “FreeSpeechMaster” had targeted. He told the FBI he felt afraid for himself and his family.
On Nov. 23, the same individual made posts about a county official in Arizona.
The FBI issued an Emergency Disclosure Request to Gab regarding the “FreeSpeech-Master” user account. Gab provided the FBI with the subscriber’s information, namely the IP address and the date the Gab account was created.
The FBI also submitted a subpoena for subscriber information to Vexus Fiber, the host for the IP address they obtained from Gab. Vexus provided the name address, phone number, and email address of the subscriber, identifi ed as Fred Goltz of Lubbock, Texas; a Canadian citizen and legal permanent resident of the United States.
The FBI then cross-referenced other databases confirming the information obtained from Vexus. Goltz’s Texas driver’s license confirmed his physical and mailing address, and a search of law enforcement databases provided information on three vehicles associated with Goltz, a black Jeep Wrangler, a gray GMC Yukon, and a black Chevy Silverado.
The special agent carrying out the investigation conducted surveillance on Goltz’s residence and saw all three associated vehicles at his residence.
Goltz was arrested on Dec. 20, and was booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center where he remains pending trial. He is charged with interstate threatening communications and is being held without bond.
According to the complaint, the FBI compiled threatening messages made by Goltz on both Gab and Patriots.win dating from July 19, 2022, up to his arrest.
An order of detention pending trial was ordered on Dec. 23, Goltz filed a motion for a review of order of detention which was denied.
A trial date has not been set at this time.