Maybe he thought if he sent the second threats on April Fool’s Day it wouldn’t count.
E. Stanley Hoff was another one from 2017... he made his threats just days after the baseball diamond shootings.
And Hoff had a record of violence, turns out:
Westerville man pleads guilty to threatening GOP congressman Steve Stivers
www.dispatch.com
1 min read
The Westerville man who threatened a congressman showed up in court Tuesday morning asking to be free on bond pending his trial.
Three hours after his request was denied, E. Stanley Hoff was back in front of U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson to plead guilty to threatening to assault and murder U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, an Upper Arlington Republican, and his family.
The charge carries a 10-year prison term, but sentencing guidelines would call for much less, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Kelley said.
During the morning session, Assistant Federal Public Defender Barshaunda Robinson said Hoff, 68, had completed an anger-management program in jail. He also has someone with whom he could stay on the outside, Robinson said, and there are multiple programs available to help his control his behavior.
Then Kelley played a voice mail recording of Hoff’s call to Stiver’s Hilliard office. It was June 18, four days after a gunman wounded GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others during a practice for a charity baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia.
“We are coming to get every (expletive) one of you and your families. We are taking our country back. We are on the march,” Hoff said. “The other day is the tip of the iceberg. I’ve tried to warn you.
“Maybe the next one taken down will be your daughter. Huh? Or your wife. Or even you.”
Kelley asked Watson to keep Hoff confined to the Franklin County jail.
“Good enough for me,” Watson said.
“There’s no set of circumstances adequate enough to condone that type of thinking,” the judge said, before reading a list of Hoff’s criminal record, which includes disorderly conduct, assault and battery, resisting arrest, felony theft and aggravated menacing.
“The motion for release on bond is overruled,” Watson said.
After the morning hearing, Kelley said, “We’re not giving him any kind of a deal.”
Watson had scheduled Hoff’s trial for Nov. 13, which he later cancelled. Instead, he will be sentenced in two to three months.
erinehart@dispatch.com
@esrinehart