A man armed with a hammer pleaded guilty to attacking Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home in January.
William D. DeFoor, 26, entered guilty pleas on charges of engaging in physical violence against government officials and willfully damaging federal property. The charges were announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
DeFoor made national headlines on January 5, 2026, after breaching the perimeter around Vance’s Cincinnati home, a property valued at $1.4 million. Vance and his family were not present. They were in Washington, D.C. at the time.
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Secret Service agents caught DeFoor in the early morning hours after he was spotted jogging along the front fence of the residence. According to charging documents, he used the hammer to strike the driver’s side window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle multiple times, then turned his attention to the windows of Vance’s home.
As originally reported, DeFoor also refused law enforcement commands to drop the hammer, raising the stakes of an already dangerous situation. Federal prosecutors placed the total damage to government property at $28,000.
U.S. Attorney Dominick S. Gerace II was direct in his condemnation when announcing the guilty plea. “Acts of violence directed against our political leaders, their families, or property, have no place in our society and will not be tolerated,” Gerace said. He added that elected officials must be free to do their jobs without facing threats, vandalism, or violence. “Perpetrators like DeFoor, who put that freedom at risk, particularly through violent, destructive actions, will, like here, be vigorously prosecuted,” he said.
DeFoor’s legal team pushed back on any political motive. His attorneys argued the attack had nothing to do with the vice president specifically, and pointed to a significant history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, and time spent in psychiatric facilities.
His mother, Catherine, addressed her son’s condition in a statement released earlier this year. “It is a struggle which can take over the life of a beautiful person and the people who love and support them,” she said. “Unfortunately for our child, it has taken over his life in a way that we can never have imagined.”
DeFoor’s legal history reflects a pattern of mental health-related incidents. He was arrested in 2023 on a trespassing charge at the University of Cincinnati Health Psychiatric Emergency Services. A court found him incompetent to stand trial and the case was dismissed. The following year, he faced two counts of vandalism after breaking windows at a local business and was ordered into treatment. His mother was subsequently granted legal guardianship after he was again found incompetent due to mental illness.
Judge Douglas R. Cole rejected a request to let DeFoor wait out his trial from his parents’ home. He now faces up to ten years in prison on the charges to which he pleaded guilty.
