Man accused of SLO County school bomb threats to be sentenced in plea deal
A Missouri man who allegedly threatened to kill District Attorney Dan Dow and bomb a San Luis Obispo County school will plead guilty and be sentenced in September.
David William Platek, 41, of Springfield, Missouri, was arrested on Jan. 24, 2025, and charged with interstate criminal threats by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly texting several “true threats” to a friend in December 2024 indicating his intent to murder a SLO County public official, their family and 400 people — “mostly children” — at a local school.
Dow previously confirmed to The Tribune he was the subject of the threats.
Platek was federally indicted first in California, then later in Missouri on four felony counts of interstate criminal threats.
He was awaiting a mental health evaluation and a July 6 trial, but a plea deal negotiated between Platek and the government will avoid both.
According to a motion filed by the prosecution with the federal court on Friday, Platek will plead guilty and be sentenced to one count of making criminal threats on Sept. 9.
The other three counts would be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the same charges could never be brought against Platek again.
Normally, the acceptance of a plea agreement would precede a sentencing hearing, but Platek’s defense requested that the sentence be administered at the same time as the plea judgment.
The maximum sentence for the crime is five years and no more than a $250,000 fine, but the plea deal would bring Platek’s sentence down to two years in prison with three years of supervised probation, during which time he would be barred from contacting Dow or his family, according to the agreement.
The motion filed Friday indicated that any potential trial date would be rescheduled to December to allow for the sentencing hearing to be held in September. Assuming Platek is sentenced as planned, the trial date would then be canceled.
