San Francisco Man Charged With Making Threats To Federal Officials

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal grand jury issued an indictment today charging Bay Area resident Ronald Joseph LaFaye with eight counts of making threats to federal officials, announced Acting United States Attorney Alex G. Tse and Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General, Criminal Investigations Division (VA OIG CID), James K. Wahleithner. 

According to the indictment, LaFaye, 52, threatened to assault, kidnap, or murder federal officials.  LaFaye is alleged to have made the threats with the intent to impede, intimidate, and interfere with those federal officials while they were engaged in the performance of official duties, and with intent to retaliate against the officials because of the way they performed those duties.  The indictment sets out eight occasions between March 19, 2018, and March 26, 2018, in which the defendant threatened to assault, murder, beat, “pimp,” sodomize, or otherwise harm employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and LaFaye, like all defendants, is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant in this case faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.  In addition, LaFaye may be ordered to pay restitution and additional assessments as well as serve a period of supervised release as part of a sentence.  However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.  

The defendant currently is in state custody on other charges.  His next appearance in federal court has not yet been scheduled.   

This prosecution is the result of an investigation by the VA OIG CID with assistance from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Police, the FBI, the San Mateo Police Department, and the San Francisco Police Department.