A Grand Rapids man with the same initials as Vice President JD Vance has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting he posted online threats to kill President Donald J. Trump, Vice President Vance, and a member of the President’s family.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan, 67-year-old James Donald Vance Jr. used the alias “Diaperjdv” to publish a series of threatening posts on the social media platform Bluesky in March and April 2025. In the messages, prosecutors say Vance made direct threats to kill four people, including the President, Vice President, and one of the President’s children. In one of the posts, he declared that he did not care whether he was shot by Secret Service agents or spent the rest of his life in prison.
Federal prosecutors charged Vance with two felony counts: threatening to kill or injure the President and Vice President, and transmitting interstate threatening communications. Each offense carries a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney handed down the two-year sentence in Kalamazoo, describing Vance’s conduct as “grievous” and stressing the need for a prison term to deter others from making similar threats.
U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey said the case underscores how online platforms continue to be misused by individuals who choose intimidation over civil discourse. “The advent of the internet gives us all an opportunity to engage in the healthy exchange of ideas that are so important to a democracy,” VerHey said in a statement. “But some would rather use this tool to threaten and intimidate, conduct that causes fear and damages our democratic ideals. 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.”
The U.S. Secret Service’s Detroit Field Office led the investigation. Special Agent in Charge William Shink emphasized the seriousness of the threats, saying that acts targeting national leaders “will not be tolerated” and that individuals who make them “will be investigated and held accountable.”
This is the second case in a month in the Western District of Michigan involving violent online threats against President Trump. On October 20, Richard James Spring of Comstock Park was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to threatening to kill the President in messages posted on X and TikTok. Spring will serve two years of supervised release after completing his custodial sentence.
Both cases reflect what federal officials say is a growing pattern of online threats directed at public officials and national leaders, prompting increased scrutiny and rapid federal response.
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