California man who threatened to kill Gaetz sentenced to six months home confinement

Huelsman was reportedly a successful Hollywood camera operator prior to incident

Published: July 29, 2022 8:56am

Updated: July 29, 2022 9:14am

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.

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