North Carolina man pleads guilty to bomb threat near U.S. Capitol in 2021

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A North Carolina man who faced criminal charges after claiming he had a bomb in his truck parked near the U.S. Capitol in 2021 pleaded guilty on Friday, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Floyd Ray Roseberry, 52, of Grover, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to one charge of threats to use explosives during a standoff with police that lasted four hours near the Library of Congress, the Justice Department said on Friday. Roseberry had earlier pleaded not guilty.

Roseberry faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who accepted the plea, scheduled a sentencing for June 15, the Justice Department added.

During the incident in August 2021, Roseberry parked his vehicle on a sidewalk outside the U.S. Library of Congress and told an officer who approached him that he had a bomb while holding what appeared to be a detonator, according to police.

Police shut down streets and evacuated nearby buildings as they negotiated with Roseberry. The standoff paralyzed a swath of Washington for several hours.

Roseberry later surrendered to police, who said at the time that they found possible bomb-making materials, but no bomb, in the truck.

Roseberry, who had a history of mental illness, faced charges of using a weapon of mass destruction and making threats to use explosive materials.

He live-streamed his threats from his Facebook account. In the video, he said the “revolution’s on.”

“I’m ready to die for the cause,” he added.

Prosecutors said that he also stated that he was upset about the 2020 election results and demanded that President Joe Biden resign from office. He demanded to speak to Biden about several grievances, according to prosecutors.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)