Man who threatened SLO County official seeks plea agreement

May 2, 2026

David Platek

By KAREN VELIE

The man accused of planning to kill San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow is likely to be released from prison in less than a year because of a plea agreement.

On Jan. 24, 2025, FBI agents disrupted David Platek’s 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. Platek remains in federal custody.

In an attempt to secure a shorter prison sentence, Platek agreed to plead guilty to one of four charges of making terrorist threats. If approved, Platek will be released from prison in Jan. 2027.

In addition, Platek agreed to the search of his electronic devices and to have no contact with Dow or his family members.

Platek’s trial for allegedly making terrorist threats is slated to start in July. However, if the plea agreement is approved there will be no trial. Instead, he will have a sentencing hearing likely in August.

In 2019, SLO County prosecutors charged Platek with felony identity theft tied to his work as a political consultant. Platek provided information technology services to former Supervisor Adam 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 in which he pretended to be Rice and then 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 SLO County 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 outlining 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.

Because we believe the public needs the facts, the truth, CalCoastNews has not put up a paywall because it limits readership. However, we are seeking qualification as a paper of record, which will allow us to publish public notices, this requires 5,000 paid subscribers.

Your subscription will help us to continue investigating and reporting the news.

Support CalCoastNews, subscribe today, click here.