SCDC Inmate Indicted for Threatening the President, Religious Groups

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal grand jury in Columbia returned a two-count indictment, presented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, charging Eric Anthony Rome Jr., 37, an inmate incarcerated in the South Carolina Department of Corrections, for sending a threatening letter to a Jewish/Christian organization and threatening to kill President Trump.

The indictment alleges that in January, Rome drafted a letter to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in Chicago, Illinois. The letter included threats and derogatory references to the Jewish community and concluded with “Enjoy having Trump in office while you can because we are going to kill him too.”

Rome signed his full name to the letter.

Rome faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution. Rome is currently serving a state sentence for armed robbery. He has been convicted federally for threatening the president of the United States twice before. At the conclusion of his state sentence in 2030, he will begin serving a five-year sentence for a previous federal conviction involving similar threats.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. State Department, and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston D. Holliday Jr. is prosecuting the case. 

All charges in the indictment are merely accusations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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