West Boca Man, 51, Charged With Sending Threatening Messages to Girlfriend’s Teen Son

Phillip Koeckritz (Photo: Palm Beach County Jail)

A West Boca man remains behind bars after being charged Sept. 25, 2025 with sending a series of harassing text messages to his wife’s former husband and her 15-year-old child, including what police allege to be explicit death threats with a firearm.

Phillip Koeckritz, 51, of unincorporated Boca Raton, is facing charges of written intimidation to kill or cause bodily harm as well as counts of aggravated stalking – one under the state’s cyberstalking statute and another for the aggravated stalking of a person under 16-years-old. According to a police report obtained by Boca Daily News, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the messages that allegedly were sent by Koeckritz to his girlfriend’s ex-husband and their son, who is 15. The messages were reported by the father and son, who went to a police substation.

“Several of the messages directed at him contained explicit threats to kill,” the police report said, with the victim and his son both having told deputies that there had been “no ongoing disputes” with Koeckritz and the reason behind the escalation in tensions was unknown.

Deputies reviewed messages sent Sept. 21 after the teen said he asked Koeckritz to stop calling him on the phone. The text messages, which appear in the police report, include Koeckritz allegedly calling the boy a “rat” among other names. The messages continued to come in after the juvenile told Koeckritz – who was identified by his phone number – to stop texting. The boy’s father also sent a message to Koeckritz’s phone number telling him to stop texting his son.

The escalation of vulgar language continued, with about 45 additional text messages being sent to the father, challenging him to a physical fight. Once again, the father told the man to stop sending messages. The final escalation consisted of the alleged death threats, which included references to a double-barrel shotgun mixed among more obscenities, the report said.

Koeckritz has remained lodged in the Palm Beach County Jail since his arrest Sept. 25 in lieu of $300,000 bail – $100,000 for each of the three charges.