On Jan. 4, 2026, Vice President JD Vance was travelling back to his residence in Washington D.C. for the holidays when the news came that his home back at Cincinnati, Ohio, had been vandalized. Several windows and multiple cars were damaged during the event. Vance said on social media that, “As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows.” The man accused is facing local charges alongside federal charges due to vandalizing Vance’s property, but also hitting a secret service vehicle.
The man accused is William D. DeFoor, a twenty-six-year-old charged in Hamilton County Municipal Court with felony vandalism, criminal trespass & damaging, obstructing official business, criminal trespass and impeding, resisting or assaulting federal officers.
DeFoor previously faced vandalism charges in 2024 for similarly vandalizing a business at Hyde Park. In both the current court case with DeFoor and other previous cases in his life, his mental health came into question, but has not reached a conclusion.
DeFoor was allegedly first seen near the fence of Vance’s residence near midnight. According to criminal complaints, he first broke the driver’s side window of a secret service vehicle before moving on to the house’s windows and car. Enforcement officers ordered DeFoor to drop his weapon, but he refused. He was detained sometime after midnight on Jan. 5 and arrested by Cincinnati police.
The vandalism to the windows ended up being valued more than $28,000 due to them being enhanced windows. Their house overall was worth around $1.4 million in 2018, which likely was another reason the vandalism on their house and windows was such an issue to the Vance family.
Roads after the incident were shut down for multiple days but reopened that Sunday. Locals in the area, aware of the Vance family’s residence and situation, were told that law enforcement would be present on the street those following days. The enforcement was done through checkpoints, and this was the only way local families could get to their homes in the road closing.
With the accused man now in custody and roads near the Vance household reopened, the vandalism case has, for the most part, been resolved. Motives for DeFoor are still unknown as of right now.
