Wisconsin man pleads guilty to threatening a Lake County public official
A Wisconsin man accused of writing a letter perceived as threatening to officials with the Lake County circuit court clerk's office pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of threatening a public official.
Under the negotiated settlement approved by Judge Mark Levitt, Timothy Hoeller, 57, was sentenced to 2 years of probation, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation, and have no violent or harassing contact with Circuit Clerk Erin Cartwright Weinstein.
He had been held in Lake County jail on $750,000 bail.
Hoeller, of Milwaukee, was accused of writing a letter saying he was displeased with a recent electronic filing he made at the circuit court clerk's office. In the letter, he stated his intention was to "scare" the recipients and referenced the Parkland, Florida school shooting, authorities said.
In court, Assistant Lake County State's Attorney John Brown said Hoeller sent the letter to Cartwright Weinstein on Feb. 28, and that the letter made an "indirect threat." Brown did not disclose the specific language used in the letter.
Defense attorney Renea Amen said after the plea deal was accepted that Hoeller "had no intention to harm anyone."
When the arrest warrant for Hoeller was issued in March, he was held in Waukesha County jail in Wisconsin for threatening officials at Carroll University, where he once served as an adjunct professor.
In that case, he entered an Alford plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. An Alford plea means he maintains his innocence but concedes the prosecution had enough evidence to prove its case.
In the Wisconsin letter, Hoeller called the Parkland shooter "his hero," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel previously reported.