San Francisco Man Pleads Guilty To Making Threats To Assault And Murder Federal Probation Officer

Press Release

Brandon Sims-White Made Threats While On Supervised Release Following His Imprisonment for a Federal Firearm Crime

SAN FRANCISCO - Brandon Sims-White pleaded guilty in federal court today to making threats to sexually assault and murder his United States Probation Officer, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Acting United States Marshal Jay Bieber. Sims-White has remained in federal custody since making these threats and following his arrest in February 2024.

Sims-White, 41, was originally charged in April 2019 with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was arrested in 2019 and remanded to federal custody. Sims-White pleaded guilty in June 2019 and, in September 2019, the Hon. Charles R. Breyer, Senior U.S. District Judge, sentenced him to 30 months of imprisonment.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Apr. 16, 2024, a United States Probation Officer (identified as "Victim-1") began supervising Sims-White upon his release from federal custody in March 2021. While Sims-White was under federal supervision, Victim-1 sought warrants on multiple occasions for Sims-White's arrest, alleging violations of his conditions of supervised release. As described in the criminal complaint and other court documents, Sims-White was arrested multiple times while under federal supervision.

In February 2024, Sims-White appeared again for detention proceedings in federal court in San Francisco and was remanded to federal custody pursuant to a detention order. In his plea agreement, Sims-White admitted that after the February 2024 court proceedings, he knowingly and repeatedly made threats to Victim-1. Specifically, Sims-White repeatedly made threats to kill and sexually assault Victim-1, including in the presence of multiple other individuals. Sims-White also admitted that, further to making the threats to Victim-1, he made additional statements of harm regarding other federal officials.

Following the filing of the criminal complaint, Sims-White was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 18, 2024 on one count of Threatening to Assault, Kidnap, or Murder a United States Official, United States Judge, Federal Law Enforcement Officer, or Other Official in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B).

Judge Breyer scheduled Sims-White's sentencing for Dec. 18, 2024. Sims-White faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 115(a)(1)(B). However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

This case is being prosecuted by the National Security & Cyber and General Crimes Sections of the United States Attorney's Office, and is the result of an investigation by the United States Marshals Service.

Updated October 2, 2024