Fort Meade Worker Indicted For Threatening A Federal Official

FORT MEADE, MD — A Maryland man has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of threatening a federal official. Darryl Albert Varnum, 42, will be arraigned and have a detention hearing Aug. 5 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Varnum lists on LinkedIn that his last known job as senior cyber systems engineer at Sealing Technologies, Inc.

According to the one-count indictment, on June 26, Varnum allegedly threatened to murder a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, with intent to impede, intimidate, and retaliate against that person on account of the performance of that person’s duties as a member of U.S. House of Representatives.

Varnum was arrested on July 8 on a federal criminal complaint. On July 10 U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth P. Gesner ordered that Varnum complete a 28-day inpatient program at the Shoemaker
Center in Sykesville, Md., and return to the court at the conclusion of the program.

“We take these types of violent threats extremely seriously. The investigation began immediately upon learning of the threats. Mr. Varnum was charged federally by criminal complaint and arrested on July 8,” said United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur in a statement.

If convicted, Varnum faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.