Hillsboro man sentenced in federal hate crime case
Over 16 months after pleading guilty to attempting to commit a hate crime, a Hillsboro man was sentenced federally on Feb. 29 to 80 months in prison, according to court records.
As previously announced by the Southern District of Ohio, Tres Genco, now 24, of Hillsboro entered a guilty plea Oct. 11, 2022, where he “admitted he plotted to commit a hate crime, namely, a plan to shoot women at a university in Ohio.”
Genco appeared before United States District Court Judge Susan J. Dlott Thursday morning. Dlott sentenced Genco to “80 months in jail" — six years and eight months – followed by “five years of supervised release,” according to the minutes for the sentencing hearing.
According to the Southern District of Ohio:
“Genco identified as an Incel or ‘involuntary celibate.’ The Incel movement is an online community of predominantly men who harbor anger toward women. Incels advocate violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled.
“According to court documents, Genco maintained profiles on a popular Incel website from at least July 2019 through mid-March 2020 and posted hundreds of times on the site.
“In one post, Genco detailed spraying ‘some foids and couples’ with orange juice in a water gun. ‘Foids’ is an Incel term short for ‘femoids,’ referring to women. Genco compared his ‘extremely empowering action’ to similar conduct by known Incel Elliot Rodger. In May 2014, Rodger killed six people and injured 14 others, including shooting individuals outside a University of California, Santa Barbara sorority house. Prior to his mass attack, Rodger shot a group of college students with orange juice from a water gun.
“Genco also wrote a manifesto, stating he would ‘slaughter’ women ‘out of hatred, jealousy and revenge’ and referring to death as the ‘great equalizer.’
“As part of this investigation, law enforcement agents discovered a note of Genco’s that indicated he hoped to ‘aim big’ for a kill count of 3,000 people with a reference to the same date as Elliot Rodger’s attack and intended to attend military training. The investigation revealed that the day he wrote his manifesto, he searched online for sororities and a university in Ohio.
“In 2019, Genco purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word ‘Revenge,’ cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip and a holster clip concealed carry for a Glock.
“Genco attended Army Basic Training in Georgia from August through December 2019. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct.
“In January 2020, Genco wrote a document entitled ‘isolated’ that he described as ‘the writings of the deluded and homicidal.’ Genco signed the document, ‘Your hopeful friend and murderer.’
“Genco’s court documents detail that he conducted surveillance at an Ohio university on Jan. 15, 2020. That same day, he searched online for topics including ‘planning a shooting crime’ and ‘when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?’
“On March 12, 2020, Highland County sheriff’s deputies responded to Genco’s residence. At the residence, in the trunk of Genco’s vehicle, police officers found, among other things, a firearm with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition. Inside the residence, police officers found a modified Glock-style 9mm semiautomatic pistol, with no manufacturer’s marks or serial number, hidden in a heating vent in Genco’s bedroom. As part of his plea, Genco admitted that he possessed both firearms in furtherance of his plot.”
As previously reported by The Highland County Press, prior to the federal case, Genco was indicted in Highland County in June 2020 on a charge of making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony, with a forfeiture specification.
It was alleged in the indictment that on or about Aug. 1, 2019 through March 25, 2020, Genco “did threaten to commit or threaten to cause to be committed a specified offense … with purpose to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.”
According to court records, Genco entered an Alford plea Sept. 17, 2020 after an evaluation found him competent to stand trial and a motion to dismiss the case was overruled. (In an Alford plea, the defendant pleads guilty but maintains innocence of the charges, according to the Ohio Supreme Court.)
On Oct. 22, 2020, Genco was found guilty of the felony and sentenced to a definite determinate term of 17 months, with jail time credit of 224 days.
Genco was charged federally in July 2021 with one count of attempting to commit a hate crime and one count of illegally possessing a machine gun. (The latter charge has since been dismissed.)
The Southern District of Ohio issued the following statements after Genco's sentencing:
“Genco intended to carry out a devastating mass murder of innocent women in this state for no other reason than the fact that he hated them. Everybody deserves to live without threats of violence or fearing acts of terror,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “Genco’s sentence reflects the need to protect the community from him for a significant period of time. I thank each of our law enforcement partners for working together to keep our community safe.”
“Genco plotted to violently attack women and was motivated by his personal hatred,” stated FBI Cincinnati Acting Special Agent in Charge Cheryl Mimura. “Law enforcement, working together, stopped his deadly attack from happening. The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to work closely with our law enforcement and community partners to disrupt threats and prevent violence in our community.”
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