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

Reuters

Published Jan 27, 2023 06:01PM ET

Updated Jan 27, 2023 06:16PM ET

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 (NASDAQ:META) account. In the video, he said the "revolution's on."