SC inmate who threatened president, VP and federal judge pleads guilty
A 34-year-old South Carolina prison inmate has pleaded guilty to threatening President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and a state-based federal judge.
Eric Rome Jr., who is serving a 12-year sentence at the S.C. Department of Corrections for armed robbery and intent to rob a bank, pleaded guilty Monday to making a telephone threat on an internal prison voice mail system against Biden, Harris and federal Judge Joe Anderson.
Rome will be sentenced at a later date.
In various rants and letters cited in Rome’s 2022 indictment, Rome said he was a member of the Proud Boys and Aryan Brotherhood, as well as a supporter of former President Donald Trump. He also said he opposed critical race theory, vaccine mandates and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Proud Boys are an all-male militaristic group, some of whose members have been arrested and convicted of charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. The Aryan Brotherhood is the nation’s oldest white supremacist prison gang, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The indictment said Rome also sent a letter to U.S. Supreme Court justices in which he said, “Your willingness to abide Joe Bidens (sic) false presidency is sickening to true patriots such as those who support our true President, Donald Trump. Myself along with all other members of the Proud Boys will continue to fight for our true President and kill all who oppose him. God Bless America and White Power!”
After his indictment last year, Rome was sent to a federal facility for a psychiatric evaluation, according to federal court records.
The results of that evaluation were sealed, but federal Magistrate Judge David Cayer, of Charlotte, pronounced Rome competent to plead guilty at his court hearing Monday at the Columbia federal courthouse.
Cayer was brought from Charlotte to avoid any conflict of interest that a South Carolina judge would have in presiding over the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday is prosecuting the case. Federal public defender Allen Burnside represented Rome.
This story was originally published March 28, 2023 at 1:10 PM.