COLUMBUS, OHIO — The Justice Department filed a motion on May 26 with U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott, requesting that Tres Genco be evicted from his current Columbus residence and subjected to additional restrictions as conditions of his supervised release. Genco pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of attempting to commit a hate crime for plotting a mass shooting at a university sorority.
The department requested that Genco reside more than two miles from any Ohio university or college and that his residence location receive pre-approval from the probation office. The motion also requested that Genco be prohibited from entering the grounds of any Ohio university or college without prior probation office approval and called for the installation of computer monitoring software on his electronic devices. A Justice Department representative said in a court filing: "The government has serious safety concerns."
Genco was sentenced to six years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation. The Justice Department also requested that Genco have no contact with his former cellmate, Thomas Develin, a former Ohio National Guard member who is currently serving a 71-month prison sentence for manufacturing untraceable firearms and threatening a Jewish school. An Ohio State University spokesperson said: "We support the DOJ motion. Student safety is our top priority."
Genco's public defenders filed a response to the Justice Department motion on May 30. They agreed to the electronic monitoring and no-contact stipulations but opposed the residential restrictions. Genco's public defenders wrote in a court filing: "These two restrictions would serve to unjustifiably destabilize Mr. Genco physically, financially, and psychologically." They stated that Develin's parents assisted Genco in moving into his current apartment near Ohio State University in mid-May.
Genco's public defenders also wrote: "It defies logic that the government would seek to impose a more onerous residency restriction than the restrictions codified into law for registered sex offenders." They also wrote: "Specifically, the restrictions sought by the government would have the effect of ousting Mr. Genco from his Probation-approved residence, causing him and his lease-guarantor to incur financial harm, and would significantly impair his freedom of movement." They argued that the Justice Department could have requested these supervision conditions prior to the start of his probation but did not. Court records indicate that Genco resided in a halfway house from August to April before moving to his current apartment, where he maintained employment and incurred no violations.
Genco was arrested in July 2021 after his mother reported that he threatened her and barricaded himself in his room. During a search of Genco's residence, law enforcement recovered a manifesto, a bulletproof vest, a skull mask, a rifle, and handgun magazines. Judge Dlott has not yet issued a ruling on the competing motions regarding Genco's supervised release conditions.