9 May 28th - June 3rd, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | recently demanding $500,000. He’s now using my brother’s campaign as another avenue to try to escalate his attempt at extor- tion. I have filed a criminal complaint with the city of Tempe against Mr. Von Gold. I intend to prosecute fully any and all claims against anyone who aids this individual or publishes false and defamatory statements regarding this matter.” The Tempe Police Department confirmed that someone named Jeremy Glassman has filed a report, but did not provide any further details or the report. New Times has placed a public records request for the report but has not yet received it. At the root of the allegations are the claims made by Von Gold, a former friend and business associate of Jeremy Glassman. In a February affidavit that has circulated in political circles — and which has since been posted online, albeit in heavily redacted form, by Republican activist and Petersen ally Merissa Caldwell — Von Gold claimed that Jeremy Glassman confessed to him that his older brother had sexually abused him when he was a child. Von Gold has also shared purported audio of a Glassman- associated attorney saying that Jeremy Glassman had told him the same thing. For several months, New Times has been looking into the affidavit, which a confiden- tial source provided earlier this year. New Times has also spoken to Von Gold, whose allegations against Rodney Glassman are neither ironclad nor gossamer-thin. They are old, unproven and second-hand. And considering that he is also seeking money from the Glassman family to settle an old business grievance, Von Gold is motivated both financially and by a desire for what he calls “justice.” There is ample evidence that Von Gold and Jeremy Glassman were once close. The major questions about the claims’ veracity might have kept most political opponents from touching them with a flagpole. But that hasn’t stopped Petersen’s hyper-online supporters, not while Glassman is signifi- cantly out-fundraising him in the GOP primary. Here’s what New Times has learned about the allegations — and about the people trying hard to make them stick. Thanksgiving with the Glassmans In his affidavit and in multiple interviews with New Times, Von Gold laid out his relationship with Jeremy Glassman and how it foundered. A thin, muscular man with a black beard and a German accent — Von Gold says he is a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Munich — Von Gold was a sound and tech guru working for a hearing technology company when he met Jeremy in 2017 at the Flagstaff music festival Pitch a Tent. Von Gold had a passion for electronic music and DJing. He said Jeremy eventually made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: Work with me, all expenses paid, and together we’ll build an elec- tronic dance music empire. He and Jeremy were partners in the music venture for four or five years, playing well-paying gigs at private parties and festi- vals in Arizona, California, Mexico and Israel. They did business under the name Glass and Gold and later went by Electric Polar Bear, an entity Jeremy registered with the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2017. Von Gold claims he was the creative force behind the venture, while Jeremy handled the business side. Jeremy also had money from his father, Robert Glassman, the family patriarch and fertilizer king of Fresno, California. Von Gold estimated the music business was making $400,000 to $600,000 per year, and up to $42,000 per show. Though he was doing the heavy lifting — setting up equipment, designing laser shows, picking the music — he said he was not paid a regular salary. Instead, he roomed with Jeremy at the latter’s condo in Tempe, drove company cars and paid for expenses with company credit cards, some of which he showed to New Times. Von Gold said he was also an intimate of the Glassman family, joining the family at Rodney’s $9 million Biltmore Estates home for Thanksgiving dinner. Von Gold said he also traveled with the Glassmans on vacation to Hawaii and bonded with Jeremy’s mom — Linda Britz Glassman, heir to the Britz family chemical fortune — over their mutual love of cooking. Jeremy’s father was a harder nut to crack. “Very strange dynamics,” Von Gold said of the Glassman family. “The dad’s the king, but everyone ignores him. He cracks the funniest jokes, though. Very dark humor and nobody laughs. I actually think he’s really funny, though.” Von Gold said his relationship with Jeremy Glassman fractured at the Burning Man festival in 2022. Von Gold said that he is heterosexual and his rela- tionship with Jeremy was platonic, though he said he realizes in hindsight that there were signs leading up to Burning Man that Jeremy wanted some- thing else. Jeremy would want to wrestle him, he said. One time, Jeremy grabbed his butt. Another time, Jeremy pinched his nipples. “You’re not allowed to touch me like that,” Von Gold remembered telling him. On another occasion, he said, Jeremy tried to spoon him while Von Gold was asleep. Von Gold woke up and >> p 10 Claim Game from p 7 Rodney Glassman is running for attorney general in the GOP primary. 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