ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A northern Virginia man has pleaded guilty to posting racist threats online targeting historically black Howard University in the nation’s capital.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a news release that 26-year-old John Edgar Rust pleaded guilty Tuesday to threatening to kill black students at the university in 2015.

The Washington Post cites Loudoun County court records that show Rust is a convicted sex offender who was on probation and barred from using the Internet at the time he left profane messages on chat boards that year. According to court documents, he used the Wi-Fi at a fast food restaurant in Alexandria, a Virginia suburb of the nation’s capital.

He faces up to five years at sentencing scheduled for July 20.