Death threats against Sacramento councilwomen followed months of misogynistic messages
A Sacramento man who harassed female City Council members for months is now subject to court orders that will prohibit him from approaching several elected leaders, records show.
The order prohibits Alexander Francis Hoch from going within 100 yards of Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, Councilwoman Mai Vang, Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, and City Council candidate Karina Talamantes.
Court records show Hoch, 37, sent harassing messages for months to the four women. The messages escalated Nov. 10 when Hoch emailed Valenzuela a death threat.
“I’m going to kill you, Andrea, Anthony, karina and steinbergg... you have to f---ing kill me,” Hoch wrote in the email, submitted to the court.
That message prompted Valenzuela to contact the Sacramento Police Department, she wrote in a request for the restraining order.
“I do not know who ‘Andrea’ and ‘Anthony’ are, but I immediately understood ‘karina”’ to be Karina Talamantes and ‘steinberg’ to be Mayor Steinberg,” Valenzuela wrote. “Upon receipt of this email, I was filled with anxiety and fear for my personal safety and that of my colleagues and staff. I immediately transmitted the email to the Sacramento Police Department. I was so anxious and afraid, that I left my home and stayed in a hotel while SPD investigated the death threat. I remain afraid to be home alone and I am anxious and fearful about returning to work in person at City Hall.”
The same day he emailed Valenzuela, Hoch sent Vang a message on Facebook that read: “Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Die.”
Hoch previously visited places where he was likely to find Talamantes, a Sacramento County Board of Education member who is Ashby’s chief of staff, the document read.
For instance, Hoch went to the Natomas High School vaccination clinic where Talamantes worked and also to her City Council campaign headquarters in midtown Sacramento, she wrote in a court document. Talamantes is also protected by the emergency restraining order.
Hoch has been sending messages to the four women since June, often asking them to kill him, the document read. Other messages appear to be cries for help from a person experiencing a serious mental health crisis, and possibly suicidal thoughts. He sent Valenzuela a message that read: “You have 3 options. Kill me Arrest me Help...”
Other messages were riddled with graphic sexual language, calling the officials whores and sluts, among other derogatory terms.
Ashby called the harassment “unacceptable.”
“As elected officials we do our best to serve our constituents,” Ashby, whose council term ends next month, said in a written statement. “Being berated and harassed repeatedly with sexual and homicidal threats directed primarily at female members of this governing board is sexist, unacceptable, dangerous, and must be met with swift action. When women say they do not feel safe in the workplace that threat must be taken seriously.”
Barred from contacting Sacramento councilwomen
The Nov. 10 alleged death threat led to Hoch’s arrest.
As a result, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Meimemeier issued the emergency restraining order, served to Hoch on Saturday, Police Sgt. Chad Coughran wrote in a court document. In addition to maintaining distance from the officials, the order prohibits Hoch from contacting them.
The day after serving him with the emergency order, police discovered Hoch was on probation for a January 2021 following a conviction for a felony assault, the declaration read. Officers on Friday obtained a warrant to arrest him.
“Due to the fact that the aforementioned public officials are publicly accessible by nature of their civic duty, coupled with the fact their personal information, such as email and home addresses are readily available, paired with the fact Mr. Hoch was on active felony probation for committing felony assault, SPD formed the opinion that Mr. Hoch had the ability to carry out his threats of violence against these public officials,” Sgt. Coughran wrote in the court document.”
Felony charges from alleged threats
Hoch is facing two felony charges of threatening the life of a government official and one felony charge of threatening to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury. He was arraigned Tuesday afternoon after being booked early Sunday morning into the Sacramento County Main Jail. He is not eligible for bail, jail logs show, and is next due in court Tuesday morning for a bail review.
The city also filed for a “workplace violence restraining order,” a more permanent version of the order in place now. For that one, the people protected would include Vang, Valenzuela, Talamantes, and Ashby. A hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 9.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office previously filed assault charges against Hoch on two occasions in fall 2020. The reported assaults seriously injured a man in August 2020 and again in October 2020, according to criminal complaints filed in Sacramento Superior Court. The assault charge stemming from the October 2020 incident was dismissed Jan. 26, 2021. That same day, Hoch was convicted in the August 2020 assault, and part of his sentence included probation time.
Valenzuela, Vang, Steinberg, Ashby, and Talamantes are all Democrats. Vang, Valenzuela and Talamantes are people of color.
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 3:26 PM.
