William D. DeFoor, 26, admitted in federal court to smashing windows and damaging security equipment at Vice President JD Vance's Cincinnati residence, an attack that caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage and could send him to prison for decades.
DeFoor entered his guilty plea Tuesday in the Southern District of Ohio on two federal counts: acts of physical violence against government officials or property and willful injury or depredation of U.S. government property. The New York Post reported that DeFoor faces up to 30 years in prison for the combined charges.
The vandalism took place just after midnight on January 5, when Secret Service agents spotted DeFoor near the front fence of Vance's protected residence in Cincinnati. Vance and his family were in Washington, D.C., at the time. DeFoor breached the property line at the driveway, armed with a hammer, and began a destructive rampage that prosecutors say left more than $28,000 in federal security equipment destroyed and caused tens of thousands of dollars in additional damage to the home itself.
Court documents paint a vivid picture of the attack. DeFoor struck the driver's side window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle three times with the hammer. He then moved to the front of the home, where he broke large historic glass windows and damaged components of an enhanced security system installed on each window. AP News reported that DeFoor broke 14 historic window panes in total.
Secret Service agents ordered DeFoor to stop and drop the weapon. He ignored every command. When agents and Cincinnati police officers moved to detain him, DeFoor attempted to flee on foot before he was finally taken into custody.
DeFoor remained jailed for nearly nine months following the incident. He appeared in court on January 6, 2026, on non-federal charges related to the same vandalism. The current status of those state-level charges remains unclear.
The attack on the vice president's home fits a broader pattern of politically adjacent vandalism that federal prosecutors have pursued aggressively. A former Olympic canoeist was recently indicted on a felony charge for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II did not hold back in his statement following the guilty plea. Fox News Digital reported his full remarks:
"Acts of violence directed against our political leaders, their families or property, have no place in our society and will not be tolerated. Our elected leaders, at all levels of government, must be permitted to carry out their duties free from threats, vandalism and other forms of violence."
Gerace added a pointed warning aimed at anyone considering similar conduct.
"Perpetrators like DeFoor, who put that freedom at risk, particularly through violent, destructive actions, will, like here, be vigorously prosecuted."
Vance, who has spoken publicly about the importance of family and faith throughout his time in office, was not at the Cincinnati property during the attack. He and his wife Usha have opened up in recent interviews about navigating their interfaith marriage and raising their children, a private life now shadowed by the reality that their home was targeted.
DeFoor's attorney, Paul Laufman, has maintained from the start that the vandalism was not politically motivated. Newsmax reported that Laufman called the incident "purely a mental health issue" during DeFoor's earlier not-guilty plea in January.
Court records from Hamilton County support the claim that DeFoor has a lengthy history of mental health struggles. In April 2023, he was charged with trespassing at the University of Cincinnati Health Psychiatric Emergency Services after police said he refused to leave. A court ruled him incompetent to stand trial, and the case was later dismissed.
The following year, DeFoor was charged with two counts of vandalism after windows at a business in Cincinnati's Hyde Park neighborhood were broken. That case was referred to a mental health docket, and treatment was ordered in lieu of a conviction. At some point before the January 5 attack on Vance's home, Hamilton County Court approved an application granting DeFoor's mother legal guardianship after finding him incompetent by reason of mental illness.
The New York Post reported that DeFoor has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His mother, Catherine DeFoor, released a statement acknowledging her son's condition: "Mental illness is a terrible thing. It is a struggle which can take over the life of a beautiful person."
The Vance family has grown in the public eye during the vice president's tenure. Vance recently discussed how personal loss reshaped his family's decisions about the future.
The mental health defense may explain DeFoor's behavior, but it also raises a harder question: how did a man with a documented history of incompetency findings, court-ordered treatment, and a legal guardian end up armed with a hammer outside the vice president's home?
Hamilton County's mental health docket diverted DeFoor from conviction after the Hyde Park vandalism. The trespassing charge at a psychiatric facility was dismissed outright. His mother was granted guardianship because a court found him unable to manage his own affairs. And yet none of these interventions prevented him from reaching the front fence of one of the most heavily protected private residences in the country.
FBI sources previously told Fox News Digital that DeFoor demanded to be called "Julia" when he was arrested. No additional context for that demand has been reported.
DeFoor's sentencing date has not been announced. The federal charges he admitted to on Tuesday carry the possibility of significant prison time, a sharp contrast to the treatment-in-lieu-of-conviction approach that Hamilton County courts took with his earlier offenses.
Vance's inner circle has seen its own transitions in recent months, but the security of his family's private property now stands as a separate and more urgent concern.
When the system keeps diverting and dismissing, someone else eventually pays the price. This time it was the vice president's front windows. The next time, it could be worse.