A federal grand jury has indicted a Pennsylvania man for threatening President Joe Biden, House Jan. 6 Committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and a federal judge.
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that 25-year-old Robert Maverick Vargo of Berwick, Pennsylvania, had been charged with threatening the President, sending interstate communications with a threat, and influencing a federal official by threat.
Vargo allegedly sent a letter to Thompson’s office at the Rayburn House Office Building in which he allegedly vowed to kill the congressman and his family, along with Biden and U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani.
The letter, which the office received on Oct. 11, specifically cited Thompson’s work on the Jan. 6 committee as a point of anger for Vargo, the DOJ’s announcement said.
“Im [sic] going to kill you! I will make you feel the rest of our pain & suffering,” Vargo allegedly wrote. “There is nowhere or nobody who can keep you from me. I am going to kill you & those you love. I promise you that I will keep my promise until the day of my death.”
Vargo allegedly warned Thompson that he and Biden “soon will face death for the wrongs you’ve done to US.”
The letter also alluded to anthrax and contained what looked like white powder, according to the Justice Department.
However, the U.S. Capitol Police’s Hazardous Material Response Team found that the powder “did not pose an immediate public safety hazard,” the DOJ said.
Vargo had allegedly sent the letter and powder from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He was being held there on a burglary charge, along with a prison escape charge he’d been handed after escaping the facility in the summer.
If convicted on the new federal charges, Vargo will face up to 25 years in prison.
The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
