A 67-year-old Grand Rapids, Michigan, man who shares a name with Vice President JD Vance was sentenced to two years in federal prison for threatening to kill the vice president, President Donald Trump, and two other individuals on social media. James Donald Vance Jr. posted the threats on the Bluesky social media platform using the alias “Diaperjdv” in March and April 2025.
U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney handed down the 24-month sentence on November 17 in Kalamazoo, followed by three years of supervised release. The defendant, who is not related to the vice president despite sharing his initials and last name, pleaded guilty in July to two felony charges: threatening to kill or injure the president and vice president, and interstate threatening communications.
According to prosecutors, Vance Jr. threatened four individuals total, including the president, the vice president, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump Jr. In one particularly disturbing post on April 1, he wrote that if Trump, Vance, or Musk came to his city again, “they will leave in a body bag.” He added that he didn’t care if he was shot by the Secret Service or spent the rest of his life in prison, noting he only had about 10 years of life left anyway.
The defendant also posted threats targeting the president’s oldest son. In that post, Vance Jr. stated he would murder Trump Jr. before he received Secret Service protection, according to federal investigators.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Timothy VerHey emphasized the seriousness of online threats in a statement following the sentencing. “When Vance said he planned to kill our President and the Vice President simply because he disagreed with them, he crossed a line we all understand and so had to be punished,” VerHey said. He noted that while the internet provides opportunities for healthy democratic discourse, some individuals use it to threaten and intimidate, conduct that damages democratic ideals.
Prosecutors initially sought a stiffer sentence between 30 and 37 months. They pointed to a February post where Vance Jr. displayed a photo of a firearm on Bluesky, arguing he was capable of acting on his threats. Reports indicate each charge carried a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.
Court-appointed attorneys Sean Tilton and Helen Niewenhuis argued for a lighter sentence, citing their client’s history of childhood mental abuse and current health issues. Defense attorneys emphasized that Vance Jr. had no prior criminal history and that, because the threats occurred online without a firearm being used in the commission of a crime, stricter sentencing guidelines should not apply.
A grand jury indicted Vance Jr. in June, four months after the Secret Service Detroit Field Office began investigating the threatening posts. William Shink, Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service’s Detroit office, stressed that threats against the nation’s leaders and their families will not be tolerated. He stated that individuals who threaten any U.S. Secret Service protectee will be investigated and held accountable for their actions.
This case marks the second recent threat prosecution in the Western District of Michigan involving threats against federal officials. In October, Richard Spring of Comstock Park was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for making threats against President Trump on X and TikTok. Spring pleaded guilty to one count of threats to kill or injure the president and will face two years of supervised release after completing his prison term.
The unusual coincidence of the defendant sharing a name with one of his intended targets drew attention to the case. Vice President JD Vance’s own naming history is complex—born James Donald Bowman, his name was changed to James David Hamel during childhood after his mother remarried. As an adult, he adopted his grandparents’ surname of Vance after graduating from Yale Law School, seeking to align his identity with the family he felt he truly belonged to.
Federal authorities continue to take online threats against public officials seriously, particularly in an era where social media platforms provide easy access for individuals to broadcast threatening messages to wide audiences. The Secret Service investigates thousands of potential threats each year as part of its protective mission, working to identify individuals who may pose genuine risks to those under its protection.
