WASHINGTON — A North Carolina man who threatened to blow up the Library of Congress if President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats didn’t step down from office pleaded guilty Friday to a felony count of threatening to use an explosive device.
Floyd Ray Roseberry, 51, of Grover, North Carolina, appeared before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras to enter his plea Friday morning. The charge Roseberry pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a more serious charge of threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction which carried a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
Roseberry was arrested on Aug. 19, 2021, following an hours-long standoff outside the Library of Congress – where he had parked his truck and begun livestreaming himself demanding Biden leave office and repeating unfounded claims by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen. Roseberry claimed the vehicle was filled with gunpowder, ammonium nitrate and Tannerite and was rigged to explode if a certain decibel level was reached. He claimed at times to be one of five people who’d come to D.C. with explosives, although this was not true, and warned the blast could destroy two-and-a-half city blocks.
“Southern boys are here,” Roseberry said during his stream. “You can take me out. But when you do, you know what’s going to happen Joe Biden? There’s going to be a chain reaction. And that chain reaction’s going to be on your hands.”
Law enforcement eventually took Roseberry into custody without further incident. A search of his vehicle turned up bags and tubs of loose change, apparently intended to turn the vehicle into a huge IED, and a small amount of gunpowder.
During a post-arrest mental competency screening, a D.C. Department of Behavioral Health psychologist determined Roseberry had been prescribed an incorrect set of medications known to trigger manic and psychotic episodes in individuals like Roseberry with bipolar disorder. He was released from pretrial detention in August 2022 after his condition was stabilized on proper medication.
After accepting Roseberry’s guilty plea, Contreras set a tentative sentencing date for the week of June 12. The judge said he wanted the presentencing investigation to have ample time to assess Roseberry’s “serious claims of diminished capacity.” Roseberry was allowed to remain on home confinement while he awaits sentencing.