Man who threatened SLO County official seeks insanity defense

January 18, 2026

David Platek

By KAREN VELIE

The man accused of planning to kill San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow and then explode a bomb at Templeton High School claims he was not responsible for his alleged crimes because of mental defect or illness, according to court filings.

On Jan. 8, David Platek’s attorney James Threatt filed a notice to extend time after missing a deadline to file notice of an insanity defense. Threatt then filed a notice of intent to “introduce expert testimony relating to a mental disease or defect which bears upon the issue of guilt.”

Platek’s trial for allegedly making terrorist threats is slated to start in February. However, based on the latest filings the trial could be delayed.

FBI agents disrupted Plateks plan to kill Dow and then explode a bomb at Templeton High School with the goal of murdering 400 people in an attempt to extract retribution over his 2019 arrest for allegedly impersonating a local activist.

SLO County prosecutors in 2019 charged Platek with felony identity theft tied to his work as a political consultant. Platek provided information technology services to former Supervisor Hill and several other candidates for local offices.

Local activist Kevin Rice regularly criticized Hill and his allies in the comment section of the SLO Tribune.

In 2018, Platek created a Facebook page impersonating. Platek, pretending to be Rice, made a comment under a Tribune article about a convicted sex offender, saying that he (as Rice) had also had sex with children, and it was not all that uncommon.

Shortly afterwards, Aaron Ochs, a local troll known for spreading misinformation on behalf of Hill, wrote on his own Facebook page that Rice admitted to being a sex offender.

The District Attorney’s Office mounted an investigation that uncovered Platek’s role in attacking Hill’s critics. Prosecutors then filed two counts of felony identity theft and one related misdemeanor charge against Platek.

Hill committed suicide in 2020 after FBI agents raided his county office. Without Hill’s testimony, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office dropped the prosecution against Platek.

Even so, Platek claimed that the publicity surrounding his arrest ruined his professional career when he explained why he wanted to kill Dow, his family and schoolchildren.

“Everything I’m told says killing kids is the most pain I can inflict, and I have the right to fight back against the people who did this to me. A primal right,” Platek wrote. “Bullets are cheap and children are plentiful. SLO wants to destroy my life, I’ll blow up one of their schools.”

From Dec. 7, 2024 through Dec. 16, 2024, Platek sent dozens of texts to an acquaintance outling his plans for revenge, while also sending threats via social media to Dow.

Platek planned to make a bomb from explosives and fertilizer, rent a van and drive from his home in Missouri to SLO County. After killing Dow, he would explode the bomb at the school the prosecutor’s children attended.

Federal agents arrested Platek on Jan. 2, 2025 in Missouri.

If Platek is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he will avoid prison. Instead, he will face commitment to a mental hospital for treatment, which could be for a period as long as the potential prison sentence.

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