Ohio man pleads guilty to attacking JD Vance’s house

A 26-year-old Ohio man has pleaded guilty to vandalizing the Cincinnati home of Vice President JD Vance with a hammer earlier this year.

William D. DeFoor of Cincinnati admitted in federal court to committing acts of physical violence against government officials or property and causing willful injury or damage to U.S. property. A federal grand jury indicted him in January.

“Acts of violence directed against our political leaders, their families or property have no place in our society and will not be tolerated,” Dominick Gerace II, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in a news release announcing the plea.

The incident happened around midnight on Jan. 5, 2026, when U.S. Secret Service agents saw DeFoor running along the front fence of the Vice President’s protected residence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Vance and his family were not home at the time, having recently returned to Washington, D.C., after a weekend visit to Cincinnati.

DeFoor crossed the property line at the driveway, where an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle blocked access, and tried to break the driver’s side window several times with a hammer, the attorney’s office said.

DeFoor ignored verbal commands to stop and drop the hammer…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/