The younger brother of the late NFL star-turned-soldier Pat Tillman has pleaded guilty to setting fire to a San Jose, Calif., post office last summer.
San Jose, California — The younger brother of the late NFL star-turned-soldier Pat Tillman pleaded guilty this week to setting fire to a San Jose, Calif., post office last summer.
Richard Tillman44, was arrested July 20 after hitting a car Car to the post office In a mall then they set the car on fire. The building’s lobby caught fire. No one was hurt.
Tillman, of San Jose, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to malicious destruction of government property.
“In his guilty plea, Tillman admitted that he intentionally set the fire in order to ‘get a point across to the United States government,’” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement.
Prosecutors did not say what point Tillman was trying to make.
Tillman told officers at the scene that he live-streamed the incident on YouTube, U.S. Postal Inspector Shannon Rourke said in July.
Tillman, who remains in federal custody, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced April 27.
After the accident, his brother, Kevin Tillman, said in a statement that Richard Tillman had had “severe mental problems” for many years, and the family was relieved that no one was hurt.
Pat Tillman left the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army after 9/11 and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 at the age of 27. His family comes from the San Jose area.
Kevin Tillman also left his Major League Baseball career with the Anaheim Angels to serve in the Army.