Virginia Man Faces Prison for Threatening Violence on CU Employees

A Virginia man will be sentenced in June after a jury found him guilty of threatening to rape two employees at the $215 million InFirst Federal Credit Union in Alexandria.

Brandon Hayward, 35, of Gainesville, was convicted last week of two counts of knowingly transmitting in interstate commerce threats to injure a credit union branch manager and her supervisor in 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Roanoke.

Victim 1 was the manager of the InFirst branch in the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke on Aug. 15, 2022, when she received a call from Hayward over a recorded voice over internet protocol line, in reference to a recurring charge on his account that he claimed he did not authorize.

Unsatisfied with the outcome of his complaint concerning the charge, Hayward became irate and told the branch manager, “I am going to get you raped … I will get you killed, (expletive).” He told her twice: “I am going to blow up Roanoke,” adding once, “I don’t give a (expletive),” according to court documents.

Hayward said he was going to get his shotgun back and told the branch manager: “I am going to enslave you.” He also mentioned he could Google her last name and said: “You think you’re safe in Roanoke; you’re not.”

During the entire recorded conversation, the branch manager attempted to assist Hayward and calm him down, but he continued on with his expletive-ridden rant and threats.

The branch manager then transferred Hayward’s call to her supervisor, and he said, “How about I come to your house and rape you then?”

Court documents also showed Hayward has an extensive mental health history.

Before the August phone call, he was charged with multiple instances of assaulting women in the spring and summer of 2022, and he was not receiving any treatments for his mental health issues.

After he was charged for his verbal threats to the credit union employees, Hayward was deemed to be incompetent to stand trial by a judge in December 2022. The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means prosecutors could refile the charges against him. The case was dismissed because the government was unable to comply with the statutory requirement for Hayward’s competency restoration, according to court documents.

Hayward was released from custody in June 2023. He lived with his mother and received mental health treatments, which included medications.

However, despite receiving treatments, prosecutors said, Hayward made several unsolicited and bizarre phone calls in December 2023 to the unlisted personal cell phone number of one of the InFirst employees he previously threatened in 2022. She then sought a protective order against him.

Soon after Hayward made those unsolicited and bizarre phone calls to the credit union employee, he was arrested and was indicted in January on the charges from the threatening phone call Hayward made to employees of InFirst on Aug. 15, 2022.

He was denied bond and currently remains in custody.

Hayward faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to five years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

InFirst did not respond to a CU Times request for comment.