A federal grand jury indicted William D. DeFoor in connection with vandalism at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The three-count indictment accuses DeFoor, 26, of Cincinnati, of damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against any person or property in a restricted building or grounds, and assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.
DeFoor faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the first two charges and up to 20 years on the third, according to the indictment.
Paul Laufman, listed as representing DeFoor, declined to comment on the indictment. Laufman has previously said that the situation represents “purely a mental health issue” and that DeFoor was not motivated by politics.
Federal prosecutors allege that the Secret Service saw someone run along the front fence of Vance’s residence in Cincinnati’s upscale East Walnut Hills neighborhood just after midnight on Jan. 5 and then breach the property line. A federal affidavit says the person later identified as DeFoor was armed with a hammer and tried to break out the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on the way up the driveway.
The affidavit further says DeFoor then moved toward the front of the home and broke 14 historic window panes. The filing values damage to security enhancements around the windows at $28,000.
A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that DeFoor must remain incarcerated pending trial, according to the report. Separate vandalism, criminal trespass, criminal damaging and obstruction charges that were initially brought against DeFoor in state court, mostly misdemeanors, were dropped on Friday.
In social media posts and interviews, Vance thanked the Secret Service and Cincinnati Police for their work on the case. He declined to speculate on a motive and called the suspect “clearly a very sick individual.”