Thurston County man going to prison for racist threats against Social Security worker

A federal judge sentenced a 42-year-old Thurston County man to 30 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to threatening a Black federal employee at the Social Security Office in Olympia.

Steven L. Veres accepted a plea agreement on April 2. Judge Benjamin H. Settle delivered the sentence Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma.

As part of a plea agreement, Steven L. Veres admitted to threatening the employee and using a racial slur against them during a Feb. 12, 2023, office visit. Court records show Veres sought a social security card during the visit and grew frustrated when the employee told him that he lacked the documentation to obtain one.

Veres reportedly threatened to assault and kill the employee while calling him a racial slur, according to court records.

This was not the first time Veres directed threatening and hateful comments at a Black person, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman alleged in a news release.

“This defendant not only used racial slurs in this case, but investigators also discovered his use of racial slurs in social media messages back in 2020 when he was threatening to find and assault or kill a different Black victim,” Gorman said. “Such conduct is a window into his hate-filled mindset that leads to this prison sentence today.”

In the separate 2020 incident, Veres allegedly told friends and acquaintances via Facebook messages that he was searching for a Black man he believed stole his friend’s car, according to court records.

Prosecutors allege Veres repeatedly called the man a racial slur, threatened to kill him with a handgun and offered hundreds of dollars to whoever tracked the man down. The man Veres targeted in the messages reportedly told law enforcement that he did not know Veres or that Veres was threatening him.

Veres’ involvement in the criminal legal system dates back to his youth, according to court records. He has been convicted of taking a motor vehicle, possessing stolen property and vehicles, forgery, harassment, malicious mischief, methamphetamine possession with intent to distribute and identity theft.

In addition to prison time, Judge Settle sentenced Veres to three years of supervised release. The plea agreement also includes the dismissal of a pending charge of eluding law enforcement in Grays Harbor County as well as federal charges related to the threats he made in 2020.

“Your criminal history shows a disrespect for the law,” Settle said to Veres during the sentencing hearing.

In a memorandum to the court, prosecutors said Veres has a “poor record on supervision.” He has reportedly made himself unavailable for supervision on five occasions and had been returned to custody seven times during his first stint on supervised release in the mid-2000.

He’s also made himself unavailable for supervision on 17 occasions and was returned to custody 19 times during another supervised release period from 2007 to the present, according to the memorandum.

However, there may be reason to believe this time may be different. In a separate memorandum to the court, public defenders Heather Carroll and Elizabeth Sher said Veres has begun medication-assisted treatment (MAT) while in federal incarceration.

Veres reportedly used methamphetamine and fentanyl daily at the time of the Feb. 12, 2023, incident. The new plea agreement should help Veres receive needed substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, the memorandum says.

“The proposed resolution will allow Mr. Veres to focus on his underlying SUD needs instead of engaging in prolonged litigation in multiple jurisdictions,” the memorandum says. “Mr. Veres has never participated in substance use disorder treatment in the past.”

Veres recognizes how helpful MAT has been and wants to continue his treatment for the sake of his future with his family, according to the memorandum.

“His immediate family has been very upset with him due to the current case, and this in and of itself is a wake-up call,” the memorandum says. “And he wants to focus on his relationship with his young daughter. He recognizes that to do this, he needs to be sober and out of jail.”

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Will Dreher and Elyne Vaught prosecuted this case in coordination with the Criminal Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, according to Gorman’s news release.

The Federal Protective Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that protects federal facilities and employees, investigated the case.