After midnight, on January 5, 2026, William DeFoor, age 26, was caught trying to break into Vice President, J.D Vance’s house in Cincinnati by damaging 4 of the windows.

The house was left unoccupied by J.D and his family at the time and was being guarded by Federal Authorities who caught him. In more detail, according to an article from ABC News, (Barr, January 5 2026).  He was then taken into custody by the Cincinnati Police Department and was charged with vandalism, obstructing official business, criminal damaging, and criminal trespassing.

J.D Vance thanked the Cincinnati police and the Secret Service, along with saying “As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows,” on social media.

DeFoor’s mother and lawyer claim that his actions were not done for a political cause, but done out of mental health issues. As stated by his defense attorney in an article from NBC News, “I just don’t think there’s anything political going on. This is purely a mental health issue.” (Ujek, Kelley, Guevara and Li, January 6, 2026). Allegedly, he is actually a rather nice person and wrote “peaceful poetry”, but suffers from severe mental illness (Schizophrenia) that had allegedly taken over his life.

This is apparently not DeFoor’s first time under criminal charges, because according to an article from Hindustan Times, “In 2023, DeFoor was apprehended for trespassing at the Psychiatric Emergency Services facility of UC Health and for not revealing personal information.” (Kukreti, January 5, 2026). However those charges were dismissed because he was deemed “Too Incompetent” to attend his trial. In that same article it is also stated that he vandalized a window of a business in Hyde Park back in 2024, and was released on “treatment in lieu of conviction”. As of now, there is no verdict for this case. However, if DeFoor is found guilty, he could face up to 40 years in jail.