Crime and Courts

San Diego man pleads guilty to sending threatening email to LGBTQ victim

George Joseph Wellinger II was charged with messaging threats to the victim after she appeared in a TV news report regarding a 2023 hate-crime murder in Lake Arrowhead.

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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.

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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.

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