Defendant Sentenced for Threats on Twitter

Joseph Cecil Vandevere, 53, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 1 year of supervised release for using social media to communicate a threat, announced U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray for the Western District of North Carolina.

U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. handed down the sentence in the case, which involved Vandevere using his Twitter account to send a threat to injure an individual identified as Q.R. in court records. The message, sent in 2018, included a picture of a lynching accompanied by a death threat.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Vandevere admitted to using social media under pseudonyms to send threatening messages when questioned by FBI agents in 2018. The investigation found that Vandevere sent the death threat to Q.R. because he disagreed with Q.R.’s religious beliefs.

A federal jury convicted Vandevere of making a threatening communication to injure another person through interstate commerce in 2019. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville prosecuted the case for the United States.

U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the FBI for their investigation of the case, stating, ‘This case highlights the importance of holding individuals accountable for using social media to spread hate and threats.’ The FBI’s Charlotte Division, led by Special Agent in Charge John A. Strong, joined in making the announcement.

Vandevere will self-report to the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility, as allowed by Judge Cogburn. The sentence is a result of Vandevere’s conviction and serves as a reminder that using social media to threaten others will not be tolerated.

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