Feb. 7 (UPI) — A federal grand jury indicted Shannon Mathre, 33, for threatening to kill Vice President JD Vance and receiving and distributing child pornography.
Mathre, 33, is a resident of Toledo, Ohio, and allegedly told others in an online post that he is going to learn where Vance is going to be and use an M14 service rifle to kill the vice president. Vance visited northwestern Ohio in January.
“Our attorneys are vigorously prosecuting this disgusting threat against Vice President Vance,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. “You can hide behind a screen, but you cannot hide from this Department of Justice.”
Secret Service agents arrested Mathre on Friday after the U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio grand jury indicted him earlier in the week.
While participating in Mathre’s arrest, federal investigators discovered child sex-abuse materials in his possession.
A grand jury indictment says he received and distributed child sex abuse materials from Dec. 31 to Jan. 21 and had several such digital files.
He was arraigned on Friday and has a detention hearing scheduled on Wednesday.
If Mathre is found guilty of the charges against him, a federal judge could sentence him to up to five years in prison and fined up to $250,000 for threatening the vice president’s life.
He also could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined up to $250,000 for possessing child sex-abuse materials.
Mathre’s arrest comes during the same week that a Maryland resident Colin Demarco, 26, was charged with attempted murder for allegedly traveling to the northern Virginia home of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Jan. 22.
Prosecutors say he was wearing a mask and carrying a firearm without a permit to do so when he was stopped outside of Vought’s home.
Demarco allegedly called the Nov. 5, 2024, election night the “worst of his life.”