Brett Kimberlin was already serving time as a result of his guilty plea in his Texas drug smuggling case when he was convicted of multiple crimes related to the Speedway Bombings. The bombing convictions themselves resulted in a 50 years sentence. When the other convictions were added in, some of the time could be served concurrently, so his aggregate sentence was 51 years 6 months and 19 days.

The TKPOTD for ten years ago today took note of one of Kimberlin’s odder convictions.

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Brett Kimberlin is a man of many accomplishments. As best as I can determine, he holds the distinction of being the only person ever convicted of violating 18 USC 713 for misuse of the Seal of the President of the United States. It got him 12 years.

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Mark Singer noted on p. 94 of Citizen K that when Kimberlin was first arrested for trying to forge DoD IDs—

The eventual charges against Kimberlin were impersonating a Department of Defense officer, illegal possession of military insignia, and illegal possession of a facsimile of the Great Seal of the President of the United States. The latter two offenses were so obscure that Kimberlin said his later search of case law turned up no other criminal prosecutions under the relevant statutes—a statistic that seems to fit the novel circumstances under which he got himself busted.

Others have been convicted of terrorist crimes such as bombing, others have been convicted of impersonating government officers, but to be the first, and only, one convicted of illegal possession of the Presidential seal … Now, that’s a unique place in the annals of crime!

BTW, the FBI Special Agent who arrested Kimberlin testified that he had in his hand a facsimile of the Presidential Seal which he attempted to chew up. I suppose that means Brett Kimberlin is one of the few people who knows what the Presidential Seal tastes like.