Sports gambler pleads guilty to threatening hundreds of athletes on social media

A sports bettor pleaded guilty Wednesday to sending threatening and explicit messages to hundreds of athletes on social media, including some in Florida.

Benjamin Tucker Patz, 24, faces a maximum of five years in federal prison on a charge of transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce. A sentencing date has not been set.

A press release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Florida says that on July 20, 2019, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team lost a home game to the Chicago White Sox. That same day, four Rays players, as well as a player for the Chicago White Sox, received direct messages on Instagram from Patz in which he threatened to carry out acts of violence against them. The messages included the following string of text sent to one Tampa Bay Rays player:

• “I will sever your neck open you pathetic c**tbag”;
• “I will enter your home while you sleep…And sever your neck open…I will kill your entire family…Everyone you love will soon cease…I will cut up your family…Dismember the[m] alive”;
• “Your family’s necks will be severed open with a dull knife!…Your family will die!”;
• “Unfortunately 0-5 against the Chicago White Sox isn’t going to cut it. Because of your sins, I will have to behead you and your family”; and
• “Your family will be beheaded.”

Court records show that investigators found Patz had used his Instagram accounts to send “threatening and explicit” messages to more than 300 other accounts that belong to professional or collegiate athletes or their family members and significant others.

Some of those who received messages included players for the Toronto Blue Jays, Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, New England Patriots, USC Trojans, University of Arizona and the University of Oregon. He also sent explicit and threatening messages to women soccer players following their teams’ World Cup losses in 2019, and at least one tennis player.

Several messages referenced unsuccessful bets placed on those players’ teams. At least one message included the use of the N-word and others used the term “wetback.” Investigators say he may have also used some message to try and influence the outcome of upcoming sporting events he had wagered on.

Patz, who resides in both New York and California and goes by the moniker “Parlay Patz,” has won more than $1 million by wagering on sports events, according to the Department of Justice.