According to the statement, Lindner said in his message that “there is a group of people dealing with” the doctor and that “you signed your own arrest warrant.” His message also told the recipient to “sleep well” and said, “You’re all going to be burned.” He accused her of child castration, according to the statement.
Lindner, of Comfort, Texas, was charged with one count of spreading an interstate threat and will appear in federal court in Boston on an unspecified date, the statement said. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, the statement said.
Lindner’s alleged victim has not been identified but is described by prosecutors as a physician at the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, which cares for transgender and gender non-conforming patients, which provides educational programs for sexual and gender minorities and healthcare, is part of Fenway College.
Prosecutors said the alleged threats were made during the same month at Boston Children’s Hospital, less than a mile from the center, which has been the target of a harassment campaign because of the care it provides to transgender patients. Authorities said inaccurate information about their enforcement procedures was being circulated online.
“The words used here do not mean that someone is simply expressing their grievances or engaging in a vigorous debate,” U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins said of Lindner in a statement. “Mr. Lindner’s alleged conduct—death threats—was based on lies and constituted workplace violence.”
“No one should have to live in fear of violence because of who they are, what they do, where they come from, or what they believe in,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta of the FBI’s Boston division ( Joseph R. Bonavolonta) added in statement.
The Washington Post could not reach Lindner Sunday morning. The Associated Press reported Saturday that it was unclear whether Lindner was represented by a lawyer.
Fenway Health, which operates Fenway College, said it will continue to work with law enforcement to combat threats against health care providers and families using its services.
A spokesman for the group told The Post. “We appreciate law enforcement’s swift action to help stop the hate threats and harassment against this doctor.”
Lindner’s case is one of the more extreme examples of a long-running harassment campaign against health care providers working with transgender children and teens that escalated in August.
On Aug. 30, the day before Lindner’s alleged threats, Boston Children’s Hospital — the first hospital in the nation to establish its own pediatric and adolescent transgender health program — was forced by authorities after receiving anonymous bomb threats Closed, but it turned out to be a fake. A 37-year-old woman from Westfield, Massachusetts, was later arrested and charged by federal prosecutors in connection with the scam. The call is one of dozens of hoax threats Boston Children’s has received in recent months, according to the FBI.
The hospital said its staff were harassed after conservative influencers made false and misleading social media posts directing much of their sarcasm at the hospital’s gendered multispecialty services program. The program specifically takes care of young people with gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person’s gender does not match the gender they were assigned at birth.
Leading medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, support gender-affirming care for young people experiencing gender dysphoria.
Transgender health care — especially for young people — has become a contentious issue among conservative activists and politicians who have stepped up criticism of gender-affirming surgery and treatments and sought to limit access to such services in recent months Opportunity.
Derek Hawkins and Meena Venkataramanan contributed to this report.