A Franklin County man with a history of making threats to shoot up or bomb schools in northwestern Vermont, has been charged in federal court in Burlington with threatening to kill President Donald J. Trump.

Keegan Lagasse, 21, of Depot Street was ordered held without bail when he appeared briefly in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Lagasse is named in a criminal complaint filed in federal court by State Police Detective Sgt. Vienna Gildea, a member of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Vermont. 

She said Lagasse knowingly and willfully made a threat to take the life of President Trump and to cause bodily harm on Aug. 24.

Federal Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle ordered Lagasse held based on a motion and arguments by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Lasher about the ongoing threatening behavior by the defendant.

Lasher said Lagasse was a danger to the community and a risk to flee.  The defendant has no known family ties or history of employment, Lasher said.  He said there was no reason to believe he would follow any court orders.

Doyle told Lagasse he would be entitled to a probable cause hearing on Oct. 5 unless a federal grand jury indicts him in the interim.

Gildea outlined some of the recent threatening behavior Lagasse has been involved in.  They included Lagasse:

— Threatening to blow up Richford, Missisquoi Valley Union and Essex high schools in October 2023.

— Threatening to blow up the Cadillac Motel in St. Albans City and to shoot people in February 2024.

— Threatening to blow up Richford High School and a Maplefields convenience store in St. Albans on Sept. 14, 2024.

— Posting on social media that he was going to shoot up Richford High School on Nov. 3, 2024.

Lasher said in court papers that it appears Lagasse is under pre-trial release and/or probation in state court.  He said some of his cases appeared to have been sent to Family Court where he would be treated as a juvenile.  

Lagasse has made other threats to kill Trump and in one case apparently self-reported himself on Nov. 9, 2025.  A man named “Keegan” alerted that FBI National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) that he was going to use an explosive device at the White House and was planning to shoot Trump in the head.  The man said he also might hire somebody to do it.

He also made death threats to a group of people of color by using a derogatory name.

The day after the threat, FBI Special Agents Steve DiGregorio and Dan Boyce, along with a Vermont State trooper, found Lagasse at his Richford home, to ask about the tip he sent, Gildea wrote.

Lagasse claimed he wasn’t serious and said he had been asking for help, she said. 

“Lagasse stated he submitted the tip because he was mad and was not happy with his life,” she wrote.  He also said he did not know how to delete the message.  Lagasse also denied owning weapons and denied wanting to hurt himself or others, Gildea said. 

During that November 2025 interaction, Lagasse was under court-ordered conditions, including no alcohol, stemming from an unspecified state charge, records show.  Lagasse had a 0.053 percent alcohol test when checked by the state trooper, records show.

Police arrested Lagasse for violating his conditions of release and was subsequently charged in adult court with multiple crimes, Gildea wrote.  The cases were eventually sent to Family Court where he would be treated as a Youthful Offender, which means the public would not be told the outcome of his cases.

By July 8, Lagasse called Vermont State Police to say he wanted to be arrested because he was violating his state probation and had made threats in the past against President Trump, records show.  He made a similar call on Sept. 1 to self-report he was intoxicated and violating his court conditions, Gildea wrote.

Federal authorities eventually determined that his repetitive threatening behavior had to be addressed in U.S. District Court and not as a juvenile proceeding in state court with limited consequences.