An Ohio man pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he vandalized Vice President JD Vance’s Cincinnati home this year.
William D. DeFoor, 26, pleaded guilty to engaging in acts of physical violence against government officials or property and causing willful injury or depredation to property of the United States for the Jan. 5 incident at Vance’s home.
The former Ohio senator and his family were in Washington, D.C., while the event unfolded.
Prosecutors said DeFoor first attempted to break the window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle at the home with a hammer and then began to use the hammer to break “large historic glass windows” at the home.
He was arrested while trying to flee on foot. Prosecutors said he caused $28,000 worth of damage. DeFoor has been ordered detained pending his sentencing. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawyer, Paul Laufman, said after DeFoor’s arrest that the incident was not politically motivated and had “nothing to do with the specifics of the vice president.”
His mother, Catherine DeFoor, has said that her son has psychiatric issues.
“Mental illness is a terrible thing,” she said in a statement to reporters in January. “It is a struggle which can take over the life of a beautiful person and the people who love and support them. Unfortunately for our child, it has taken over his life in a way that we can never have imagined.”
