Tempe man accused of sending death threats to Scottsdale rabbi
A Tempe man who pleaded guilty to stalking and sending death threats to another man earlier this year landed in legal jeopardy yet again.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Arizona district reported the arrest of 50-year-old Jeffrey Mindock by federal agents. Authorities allege that he threatened to harm a Scottsdale rabbi if the rabbi did not attempt to persuade a judge in Utah, where Mindock has another legal case, as indicated in an email he sent on November 3.
“If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath,” the email stated.
It was not immediately clear if the rabbi had any connection to the judge or what made Mindock believe that to be the case.
Mindock pleaded guilty to multiple counts of stalking and using a computer to threaten another man back in January.
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In November 2021, Tempe police initially arrested Mindock at his residence. This arrest occurred after he sent an email to a Utah man who had filed a civil stalking injunction against him. In the email, Mindock stated, "I hereby sentence you to death by my hand." The incident took place in September of that same year, according to court documents.
According to court documents, in October 2021, Mindock sent the same man another email in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with being ignored. In that email, he ordered the man to surrender to him and not contact law enforcement, threatening to kill the man's entire family if he did not comply. Furthermore, Mindock demanded that the man not testify in an ongoing case at Tempe City Court at the time, and he suggested it would be easy to harm the man with a pen in the courtroom before anyone could intervene..
Documents added that Mindock emailed someone he believed to be the victim’s attorney telling them to advise their client that they would die if he testified and that he had enough ammunition to kill 10 SWAT teams and knew how to make bombs.
Court documents say Mindock denied sending the emails and told police the man was the one harassing him and fabricated the emails. Documents state Mindock emailed the man again on April 20, 2022 with the man’s address, which Mindock said he hired a private investigator to find, and again threatened to kill the man and his family.
Documents state the man had to break his lease and relocate after receiving the email and police arrested Mindock again on May 16, 2022.
Mindock was sentenced in January to one year in jail, and he was scheduled to begin serving his sentence on August 23, 2024. Additionally, he received 10 years of supervised probation as part of a plea agreement, as outlined in court documents. It remains uncertain whether the conditions of the plea agreement would be revoked as a result of his November arrest.
Mindock has a detention hearing and status conference scheduled on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Jeffrey Mindock accused of sending death threats to Scottsdale rabbi
