Man accused of targeting Columbus' Anheuser-Busch plant pleads guilty
See an earlier report on James Meade II in the player above
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A man accused of threatening to crash a plane into the Anheuser-Busch plant on the North Side pleaded guilty Thursday.
James Meade II reached a deal with prosecutors where he pleaded guilty to one count of inciting to violence, a third-degree felony. He faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of making terroristic threats.
Judge Andy Miller accepted the guilty plea in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
In December 2021, police say Meade wrote on an online forum about targeting the Anheuser-Busch plant, known for its twin towers and visible from Interstate 270 near its interchange with I-71 in north Columbus. Court documents show he wrote, “I hope they got a terrorism insurance plan the day before.”
Meade is from Chesterhill, a community in Morgan County in southeastern Ohio.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 31.