A D.C. man was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury for attempting to burn down a police station.
Jerritt Jeremy Pace, 39, of D.C., was charged with multiple federal arson and explosives offenses, according to a news release from Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin.
Pace was arrested on May 29 and charged by criminal complaint June 11 with receiving an explosive in interstate commerce, using an instrumentality of interstate commerce to threaten the use of explosives and attempted arson, according to the release.
On June 12, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather held Pace without bond pending trial.
The release says the charges stem from a May 29 social media post where Pace announced on his intent to burn down a police station.
Police say Pace encouraged rioting against law enforcement and suggested that his followers go to D.C. police’s Fourth District station, located at 6001 Georgia Avenue NW, to burn the station and “riot with the rest of the nation,” according to the release.
Pace is accused of then filling a plastic laundry detergent container with gasoline and a wick and igniting it in front of the Fourth District station.
Although the building remained unharmed and no one was injured, the container exploded and burned on the sidewalk, according to the release.
Pace was apprehended by an off-duty detective and police officer.
He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each of the three charges, a fine of up to
$250,000 and three years of supervised release.
“While the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia acknowledges the First Amendment right of individuals to protest peacefully, conduct that poses a grave risk to law enforcement, peaceful protesters and community members alike will be prosecuted,” Sherwin said in the release.
