Man pleads guilty to threats against Biden and Harris before 2020 election

A Maryland man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making threats against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, then candidates for president and vice president, weeks before the November election.

James Dale Reed, 42, admitted that last October he placed a letter containing graphic threats against Biden, Harris and their backers outside the home of a fellow resident of Frederick, Md., whose yard had political signs supporting the Democratic candidates, court documents indicate.

“If you are a Biden/Harris supporter you will be targeted,” the letter said. “We have a list of homes and addresses by your election signs. We are the ones with those scary guns. We are the ones your children have nightmares about. …”

Reed’s sentencing is scheduled for July 27 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the federal charge of threatening a major candidate for president or vice president.

“Making threats against candidates and fellow citizens for their political beliefs undermines our democracy and will not be tolerated,” acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner, who announced the guilty plea, said in a statement. “This case reflects our commitment to holding accountable anyone who seeks to intimidate, harass or dissuade Americans from exercising their right to vote and to peacefully support the candidate of their choice.”

The announcement comes amid conversations about the For the People Act, a bill that includes penalties for intimidation at the polls. Senate Republicans are likely to block the legislation later on Tuesday. It also follows heated reactions on the far right of the Republican Party — including the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — to the 2020 election, which former President Donald Trump maintains was stolen.

In an interview with law enforcement, Reed admitted to writing the letter, saying he brought it to the first house he saw with multiple Democratic political signs, court records say. A search of Reed’s house found a “back room” where he kept multiple handguns, a rifle, ammunition cans, grenades without blast caps and U.S. Army paraphernalia such as military-issue uniforms, the documents show.

“The room resembled a U.S. military outpost bunker containing a voluminous supply of maps, books, and documents related to military strategy and history,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Reed agreed to forfeit the firearms and ammunition as part of his deal with prosecutors.

Prosecutors, who obtained an indictment of Reed on the threats charge last November, did not drop any charges under the plea deal. However, Reed is likely to get credit under federal sentencing guidelines for accepting responsibility in the case.