A 23-year-old gambler was charged with threatening Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski
Ben "Parlay" Patz allegedly threatened the Patriots players after he bet $10,000 on the Rams to win Super Bowl LIII.
A 23-year-old gambler who was charged by a U.S. Attorney in Florida with threatening athletes, including Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, with acts of violence, could face up to five years in prison.
Ben “Parlay” Patz used a number of Instagram accounts to send messages to the Patriots players, in addition to MLB players, college athletes, and their families. According to the Action Network, Patz, a California native who was later a student at St. John’s and Columbia, earned more than $1.1 million in less than two months in his rise to gambling fame.
After Patz bet $10,000 on the Rams to beat New England in Super Bowl LIII, Patz sent messages to Patriots players named in court filings as “J.E.” and “R.G.”
“I’ll rape and murder your entire family,” Patz allegedly wrote to Edelman.
A similar message went to Gronkowski: “I will brutally rape and murder your family. … I will enter your home while you sleep and sever your neck open with a dull knife.”
Patz, who sent 18 messages from his own Instagram account, is charged with transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce and turned himself in Thursday, when he is due to appear in federal court.
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