CINCINNATI -- A Lebanon Correctional Institution inmate was sentenced to three years in federal prison for mailing threatening letters to President Donald Trump and other federal officials, authorities announced Monday.
Rodney D. Cydrus, 48, mailed a total of five letters in January 2017 to the FBI and Federal Public Defender's Office threatening to injure them, federal judges and the president, according to court documents.
In one letter, Cydrus wrote that he wanted to "go out with a bang" by killing or kidnapping a federal agent.
"As soon as I get out I’m going to get everybody I can in your office…Die Die Die…I promise my word I’ll get at least 30 of you before you kill me," one letter states.
One letter also included a powder that turned out to be Cydrus' own medication, causing a HAZMAT response.
"The federal officials whom Cydrus targeted have hard enough jobs as it is," U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman said in a news release. "Disrupting operations and creating an atmosphere of fear is a serious offense, and it’s important to deter this kind of intimidation campaign."
Cydrus was an inmate at Lebanon Correctional Institution in Warren County at the time he sent the letters.
A federal grand jury indicted Cydrus in February 2017. He pleaded guilty in January to one count of mailing threatening communications. He had faced up to 10 years in prison.
