A man who recently broke into Donald Trump’s campaign office in Virginia has been identified as 39-year-old Toby Shane Kessler, whose past has also been marred by multiple criminal activities.
According to law enforcement, Kessler is still at large after breaking into Trump’s presidential campaign office on August 11 around 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Trump’s campaign office was located in the same building that also houses the headquarters of the Virginia 10th District Republican Committee.
Kessler, who was captured on surveillance cameras, now faces charges of burglary and can serve up to 20 years in jail and pay $2,500 in fines.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office stated that the investigation is still underway, adding that it still remains unclear what the suspect took with him.
Investigators also found that Kessler is a homeless person with no fixed address. Since 2018, he has been living in the Washington metropolitan area and is originally from California.
In 2020, he was arrested but failed to appear in court later that year, which further pushed him into trouble. He was arrested again just last month and was eventually released on his own recognizance.
Previously, Kessler faced many legal troubles, including charges like a second-degree assault, loitering, evading arrest, damaging properties, and public intoxication in Maryland, Florida, and Virginia.
Meanwhile, Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, praised law enforcement for swift action. Anderson stated that Virginia is fortunate to have such dedicated officers who go the extra mile to help Americans.
The integrity of Trump’s campaign office was breached at a time when the campaign was already making headlines for facing cyberattacks from online criminals who reportedly managed to steal sensitive information about the campaign.
The Trump campaign accused Iranian hackers of orchestrating this plot, while the FBI has already initiated its investigation into the incident. According to the FBI, the hackers also tried to access the email accounts of the former presidential campaign of Joe Biden, which ended up changing its name to the Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign.
While the FBI denied talking about the specific nature of the investigation, a recent Microsoft report revealed that the Iranian hackers tried to hack the campaign accounts using phishing emails.
Microsoft, however, did not mention the name of the official whose accounts were breached, nor did it give any clue about the candidate whose campaign was targeted.
