Man sentenced to 16 months for posting judge's address

A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for posting a federal judge's home address online.

William Kaetz was arrested last October and charged with threatening the judge, who wasn't named. The 56-year-old Paramus man pleaded guilty Monday to one count of making restricted information publicly available, according to the Department of Justice.

Kaetz's arrest came three months after a disgruntled attorney shot and killed the son of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas at the family's New Jersey home, spurring state legislation to increase penalties on people who publish personal identifying information of judges, prosecutors or law enforcement officers.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, Kaetz sent a letter to the unnamed judge's house last fall saying he wanted the judge to expedite a case Kaetz had pending. A week later he allegedly left a voicemail at the judge's office, and allegedly sent an email to the judge's personal email account calling the judge a traitor, which he said "has a death sentence."

Kaetz's attorney, Douglas Sughrue, said in an email Tuesday that his client "accepted responsibility for his actions, apologized to the victim, and asked for forgiveness for the harm he caused the victim. Mr. Kaetz looks forward to being released and getting back to his loved ones and his work."

In a lawsuit filed in March 2019, Kaetz, acting as his own lawyer, sued the federal government for $20 million, claiming his Constitutional rights had been violated because federal officials were guilty of "allowing known enemies of plaintiff's nation in plaintiff's nation's official offices."

"It is well known fact that Socialists and Muslims will not assimilate to our constitutional republic form of government and all defendants have allowed demonstrations of advocacy to overthrow our constitutional form of government without prosecution," Kaetz claimed, "therefore Socialists and Muslims and their supporters cannot be in any government job."

U.S. District Judge Claire Cecchi dismissed the case in October 2019, and a few weeks before his arrest Kaetz had filed a motion demanding the case be expedited and Cecchi removed for being "a Communist Socialist Traitor to the United States," according to court documents.