Meade Targets Beer

A Franklin County, Ohio court sentenced a former Ohio National Guardsman after prosecutors compelled him to plead guilty to a charge of inciting violence.

Originally charged with making terroristic threats on a social-media platform, James Meade II, 26, of Chesterhill, Ohio—for reasons passing understanding—threatened to crash an airplane into an Anheuser-Busch beer plant in Ohio’s capital city of Columbus. The 2021 threat, made on the social-media site Discord, included self-incriminating remarks the likes of: “I hope they got a terrorism insurance plan the day before.”

In addition to assessing a fine in the amount of $2,000, the sentencing judge ordered Meade to serve three-years of community control—the strictest form of probation under which convicted felons are confined to their homes and allowed to visit only predetermined locations.

The judge further ordered Meade to serve two-hundred-hours of community service, and maintain verifiable employment. For the duration of his sentence, Meade is prohibited to use social-media; nor may he communicate with his co-defendant.

Should he violate the conditions of his sentence, Meade could be imprisoned for up to three years.

In October 2022, Meade’s co-defendant, Thomas Develin, pleaded guilty to charges of making and selling unregistered firearms, and selling components by which semi-automatic weapons could be illegally converted to fully-automatic function.

FMI: www.fccourts.org