Federal prosecutors are seeking a hate-crime sentencing enhancement against Eric Lee Boltz, 52, who pleaded guilty this week to repeated antisemitic threats to kill Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his family, the Justice Department told JNS.
In his plea agreement, the Montana man acknowledged that he was motivated by Green’s Jewish faith and his government position.
Aislinn Affinito, criminal chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii, told JNS that prosecutors are seeking the hate-crime sentencing enhancement, to which Boltz agreed.
“The parties stipulated in the plea agreement that the hate-crime sentencing enhancement applies here, so yes, we are seeking it, with agreement from the defendant that it applies,” Affinito told JNS.
JNS asked the department if it was pushing for a hate-crime enhancement, since a Justice Department release didn’t mention the phrase “hate crime.”
Boltz admitted to leaving a series of antisemitic voicemails, with antisemitic death threats, at the office of the Jewish Democratic governor in December. He was charged on June 10. At the time, the Justice Department didn’t say if there were hate-crime charges and that Boltz faced up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines per count, but it didn’t say how many charges there were.
On Nov. 4, the Justice Department said that Boltz had pleaded guilty to a single count of cyberstalking and that he would be sentenced in U.S. District Court on March 4.
“Disguising his voice, Boltz threatened to kill the governor and his family and sexually assault his daughter,” the Justice Department said. When law enforcement officers interviewed him, he said that he left the messages to “shake” the governor up, the department said.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, the hate-crime enhancement increases a defendant’s offense level if the court determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim was intentionally selected because of religion or another protected characteristic.
JNS reported in September that of four religion-based hate crimes in Hawaii in 2025, three targeted Jews, according to official state statistics, which means that Jews, who make up less than 1% of Hawaii’s population, accounted for 75% of its religion-based hate crimes last year.
In 2024, all four of the religion-based hate crimes in Hawaii targeted Jews.
