Man Pleads Guilty To Assault On A Federal Officer In Va Hospital Shooting Incident

WILMINGTON, Del. – Charles Jobe, 54, of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to one count of assault on a federal officer, a misdemeanor in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a), announced Charles M. Oberly, III, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware. 

Jobe admitted to pointing an inoperable BB gun at several VA police officers at the Wilmington Veterans Administration Medical Center on June 6, 2014.  The BB gun looked very similar to a handgun.  Jobe did not comply with officers’ commands to drop his weapon, at which point an officer fired two shots at Jobe, one of which grazed his hand.  Jobe was then taken into custody, where he received treatment for a small abrasion to his hand and was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility for a week.  After his release from the psychiatric facility, Jobe was transported to the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he has been detained ever since, pending the above federal charge.

In a post-arrest statement, the defendant said that he was depressed, that he wanted to end his life, and that the above conduct was an attempt to commit suicide by having a police officer shoot him to death.

United States Magistrate Judge Sherry R. Fallon scheduled a sentencing hearing for January 15, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. Jobe faces a maximum penalty of 1 year imprisonment, 1 year of supervised release, a fine of $100,000, and a special assessment of $25.

The case was investigated by the Wilmington Field Office of the FBI and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Criminal Investigations Division, Office of the Inspector General.  Special Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth L. Van Pelt is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.