A San Diego man pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending a threatening email to a member of the LGBTQ community in the wake of a hate- related murder that happened near where the victim lived.
George Joseph Wellinger II was charged in a grand jury indictment with messaging threats to the victim after she appeared in a TV news report regarding a 2023 hate-crime murder in Lake Arrowhead, in which a local business owner was fatally shot for displaying a Pride flag in front of her business.
In an email sent about two weeks after the murder, Wellinger called the victim "another alphabet clown that wants to take a dirt nap, too." He also wrote, "We know what you look like and know where are you are ... only a matter of time ..."
The indictment returned against Wellinger also states that in the email, he sent the victim a link to a news article referencing the 2023 murder.
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Wellinger is set to be sentenced on June 9.
