Baltimore, Maryland – David Lee Bradby, age 29, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to making interstate threatening communications, related to text messages he sent to Victim 1, a woman living in West Virginia.
The guilty plea was announced by Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and Acting Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.
According to his guilty plea, between February 13, 2022, and May 24, 2022, Bradby sent 12 text communications to Victim 1 from six different mobile numbers to which Bradby subscribed. In the text messages, Bradby threatened to kill the victim and to assault her family members. Neither Bradby nor Victim 1 knew each other.
As detailed in his plea agreement, Bradby, a Black man, also admitted that in February 2022, he made threats to Victim 2, a Black female who lived in the Baltimore area. In making the threats to Victim 2, Bradby posed as J.M.S. and made virtually the same threats to Victim 2 as he had to Victim 1, who was also Black. Bradby also threatened to blow up Victim 2’s house, claimed to know where Victim 2 worked, and included pictures and symbols used by the Ku Klux Klan in his messages to Victim 2. Bradby admitted that he sent the messages to Victim 2 to implicate J.M.S. Bradby and Victim 2 did not know each other.
Bradby faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for making interstate threatening communications. U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson has scheduled sentencing for February 7, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. Bradby remains detained.
U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI for its work in the investigation. Mr. Barron also thanked Assistant United States Attorney P. Michael Cunningham, who is prosecuting the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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