- James Donald JD Vance Jr. was sentenced to two years in federal prison for online death threats.
- Vance threatened US Vice President, President Trump, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Trump’s son.
- He pled guilty to felony charges of threatening to kill the president and vice president.
A man with the same initials and middle name as US Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for posting threatening messages. The man, identified as James Donald "JD" Vance Jr., 67, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, issued online threats to kill JD, Trump, as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Timothy VerHey, the US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, stated that Vance was sentenced by District Judge Paul L Maloney, who described the crime as "grievous conduct" that required a prison sentence to deter others from making similar threats.
In March and April earlier this year, Vance, using the alias "Diaperjdv," posted several threatening posts on the social media service Bluesky in which he made specific threats to kill.
"If Trump, Vance, or Musk ever come to my city again, they will leave it in a body bag. I will either be shot by a Secret Service sniper or spend the rest of my life in prison. I've only got about 10 years of life left anyway, so I don't f*****g care either way," Vance wrote in a post dated April 1.
Apart from writing posts against the three men, Vance also issued a threat against the president's oldest son in a March 7 post. "I will murder that stupid f-ker before he gets secret service protection," Vance wrote.
He pled guilty to two felony offences: threatening to kill or injure the president and vice president and interstate threatening communications. Each violation carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
'Line Crossed'
VerHey said Vance crossed a line when he threatened the national leaders and their families, which resulted in the case against him and the subsequent sentencing.
"The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy. But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals. When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished," said VerHey.
Vance is not the only US citizen jailed for threatening to kill the top political leaders of the country. In October, Richard James Spring of Comstock Park was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to threatening to kill President Trump after committing rape.
