Notable Arrests After the Capitol Riot
On Jan. 6, a mob of Trump supporters, inspired by President Trump himself, converged on the U.S. Capitol, swept previous legislation enforcement and rampaged via the halls of Congress.
The riot resulted in the deaths of a Capitol Police officer who was struck in the head with a fireplace extinguisher and a rioter who was shot by a police officer as she tried to push her means into the closely protected Speaker’s Lobby, simply outdoors the House chamber. Three others died because of “medical emergencies” on the Capitol grounds, based on the authorities.
More than 70 individuals have been charged and at the very least 170 circumstances have been opened, Michael Sherwin, the U.S. legal professional for the District of Columbia, mentioned at a information convention on Tuesday. The federal investigation may take months to finish, he mentioned.
The F.B.I. has acquired greater than 100,000 suggestions, together with pictures and movies, and that quantity doesn’t embody suggestions that folks have submitted by telephone, Steven D’Antuono, the head of the F.B.I.’s Washington Field Office, mentioned at the information convention.
Mr. Sherwin mentioned he anticipated the variety of arrests to “geometrically increase.” He famous that some defendants had been charged with misdemeanor crimes in order that they might be shortly arrested, however these individuals might be indicted on extra vital prices, together with sedition and conspiracy.
Here are a number of of the individuals who face prices.
Jake Angeli
Mr. Angeli, a well known conspiracy theorist from Arizona whose actual title is Jacob Anthony Chansley, was photographed in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was arrested on Jan. 9. He entered the building shirtless, with his face painted red, white and blue, and wearing a fur headdress with horns. He also carried a spear, about six feet long, with an American flag affixed just below the blade, according to the Justice Department.
Nicknamed Q Shaman for his propagation of baseless QAnon conspiracy theories, Mr. Angeli has been a fixture at pro-Trump rallies in Arizona since the 2016 election.
He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Mr. Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Fla., was arrested by U.S. marshals on Jan. 8 after a widely circulated photograph showed him smiling and waving as he hauled off Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern. He wore a Trump knit hat with the number “45” on the front.
Jail booking records from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office offered few details about Mr. Johnson’s arrest but showed that he was taken into custody on a federal warrant. The records list a few identifying tattoos, including one that reads “God, wings, cross.” He was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Richard Barnett
Mr. Barnett, 60, of Gravette, Ark., was photographed sitting with his feet on a desk in Ms. Pelosi’s office.
“I wrote her a nasty note, put my feet up on her desk,” Mr. Barnett said after leaving the Capitol building. He was brandishing an envelope with the speaker’s letterhead that he had taken from Ms. Pelosi’s office. He insisted he had not stolen it — “I put a quarter on her desk.”
He was arrested on Jan. 8 in Bentonville, Ark.
He was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of public money, property, or records.
Mr. Seefried, who carried the Confederate battle flag outside the Senate floor, was arrested on Thursday after he turned himself in to the authorities in Delaware, putting an end to an F.B.I. search.
Mr. Seefried was photographed during the riot casually carrying the flag through the Ohio Clock corridor and past a portrait of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, an abolitionist. It was the first time someone had managed to bring the flag into the building as an act of insurrection, according to historians.
Mr. Seefried and his son Hunter entered the Capitol through a broken window, the Department of Justice said.
According to court documents, the pair were identified after the F.B.I. received a report from a co-worker of Hunter Seefried who said he had bragged about being in the Capitol with his father on Jan. 6.
The Seefrieds were each charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and depredation of government property.
Mr. Munchel, 30, was photographed in the Senate chamber clad in military-style clothing and holding zip ties. He was taken into custody in Nashville on Sunday, the Justice Department said. One of the officials involved in the case said the authorities had recovered several weapons at the time of his arrest.
He was charged with one count of unlawfully entering a restricted building and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the department said in a statement.
The department also said that photographs of a person who appeared to be Mr. Munchel showed him “carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cellphone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.”
Lisa Eisenhart
Ms. Eisenhart, who accompanied her son Mr. Munchel to the Capitol on Jan. 6, was arrested on Saturday in Tennessee, according to the Justice Department.
She was charged with conspiracy to commit offense, civil disorder, entering a restricted building or grounds without authority, and engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct.
According to a federal affidavit, video footage showed Ms. Eisenhart and Mr. Munchel leaving the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington about an hour before the Capitol barricades were breached and walking together on Capitol grounds.
Video footage also showed them inside the Capitol carrying flex cuffs, or plastic handcuffs, and following a group of people who were pursuing Capitol Police officers, the affidavit said.
Mr. Brock was arrested in Texas on Sunday on the same charges as Mr. Munchel after he was identified as one of the people who broke into the Capitol, the Justice Department said. The department said that images of a person who appeared to be Mr. Brock showed him clad in “a green helmet, green tactical vest with patches, black and camo jacket, and beige pants holding a white flex cuff, which is used by law enforcement to restrain and/or detain subjects.”
“He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the U.S. government,” the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Weimer, said.
Brock’s lawyer, Brook Antonio II, said there was no direct evidence of Brock breaking doors or windows to get into the Capitol, or doing anything violent once he was inside, The A.P. reported.
Robert Keith Packer
He had been seen on the Capitol grounds in several photographs. His black sweatshirt, with its reference to the Nazi death camp and a skull, sparked widespread outrage.
His sweatshirt also included the phrase “Work Brings Freedom,” which is a rough translation of, “Arbeit macht frei.” The German words were welded onto an iron arch that stood over one of the gates of the death camp, where more than 1.1 million people were killed during World War II.
Klete Keller
Mr. Keller, an Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, was captured on video and identified by former teammates and coaches as a member of the mob that overtook the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mr. Keller, 38, did little to hide his identity, entering the Capitol Rotunda wearing a Team U.S.A. jacket, his face covering pulled down around his neck. He is also 6-foot-6, which an F.B.I. agent noted in a statement of fact made him appear to be “one of the tallest individuals” in a video posted online by a reporter from Townhall, a conservative website.
He was charged with three federal crimes: obstructing law enforcement, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Mr. Keller won medals in three Olympics, including golds at the Athens Games in 2004 and the Beijing Games in 2008 as a member of relay teams that included Michael Phelps. Mr. Keller also won a silver medal as a member of a relay team at the 2000 Sydney Games, as well as two individual bronzes.
Mr. Mostofsky, the son of a Brooklyn judge, was arrested on Tuesday. Photographs taken inside the Capitol appear to show Mr. Mostofsky dressed in fur pelts and a bulletproof police vest, and holding a protective shield that belonged to the Capitol Police.
Mr. Mostofsky’s father is Kings County Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Mostofsky.
In a video taken inside the Capitol, Aaron Mostofsky told the New York Post: “We were cheated. I don’t think 75 million people voted for Trump — I think it was close to 85 million. I think certain states that have been red for a long time turned blue and were stolen, like New York.”
He faces four federal charges, including illegal entry into a restricted area, disorderly conduct and theft of government property.
Josiah Colt
Mr. Colt, of Meridian, Idaho, was arrested on Tuesday in Idaho, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Colt was photographed hanging from a balcony and landing on the floor of the Senate chamber, according to court records. In a video posted on Facebook, Mr. Colt bragged about entering the Capitol and sitting in Ms. Pelosi’s chair, calling her a traitor. (He was in the Senate chamber, so he actually sat in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair.)
Capitol Riot Fallout
He was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Anthime Joseph Gionet
Mr. Gionet, a far-right media personality commonly known as Baked Alaska, on social media livestreamed himself for about 27 minutes in the mob as well as inside the office of Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat of Oregon.
Mr. Gionet, 33, also posted a video that showed Trump supporters taking selfies with officers in the Capitol who calmly asked them to leave. He has been barred from Twitter and YouTube for his content.
Toward the end of his livestream, Mr. Gionet accused the police of shoving him, though no shoving is visible on the video.
“You broke your oath to the Constitution,” he said, according to a federal affidavit.
William Pepe
Mr. Pepe, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee from Beacon, N.Y., was arrested by F.B.I. agents in the parking lot of a bank in White Plains, N.Y., on Tuesday, the authorities said.
Mr. Pepe, 31, called in sick to work so he could travel to Washington on Jan. 6. He was suspended without pay last week from his job as a Metro-North Railroad laborer at its Brewster rail yard.
The M.T.A. said it was cooperating with federal law enforcement agencies. On Tuesday the agency also lodged internal disciplinary charges against Mr. Pepe, which, following an investigation, may result in termination from his job, for which he is paid around $73,000 a year.
Nicholas Rodean
Mr. Rodean was arrested in Washington on Wednesday after he was identified in images that circulated on social media that showed him wearing his work badge as he walked through the Capitol.
His employer, Navistar Direct Marketing of Frederick, Md., fired him as a result, the company said in a statement that did not identify Mr. Rodean by name.
He was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol buildings, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Sanford, a retired firefighter from Chester, Pa., was arrested on Thursday after the authorities identified him as the man who was seen in a video throwing a fire extinguisher that struck a police officer during the riot.
According to court documents, a witness told the F.B.I. that Mr. Sanford went to the Capitol following “the president’s instructions.”
He was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of official duties and civil disorder, among other crimes.
Peter Francis Stager
Mr. Stager was charged on Thursday with obstructing law enforcement after officials identified him as the person attacking a police officer on the steps of the Capitol in a video posted on Twitter, according to a criminal complaint.
Mr. Stager, of Arkansas, was identified after the F.B.I. received a tip from a confidential source, according to the complaint.
Mr. Stager was in a large group of people on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, and used a flagpole “with a United States flag affixed to it” to “repeatedly strike” the officer who “remained prone” on the steps, according to the complaint.
In a second video posted on Twitter, Mr. Stager says, “Everybody in there is a treasonous traitor. Death is the only remedy for what’s in that building,” referring to the Capitol, according to the complaint.
Christine Priola
Ms. Priola, an employee with the Cleveland public schools, was charged Thursday with entering and committing unlawful activities on the grounds of the Capitol.
Ms. Priola was identified through an anonymous tip to the F.B.I. after she was recognized in a photograph posted on Twitter, according to a criminal complaint.
In the photograph, a woman wearing a red winter coat was holding a sign that read, in part, “The Children Cry Out for Justice” while pointing a “smart cellular telephone device” at another person who was “occupying the seat of the Vice President of the United States,” according to the complaint.
Ms. Priola resigned from her position as an occupational therapist the day after the riot, according to a copy of her resignation letter that was obtained by Cleveland’s Fox 8 News. In it, Ms. Priola espoused a number of conspiracy theories.
Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr.
Mr. Meredith was charged with threatening Ms. Pelosi after he traveled to Washington for the pro-Trump rally on Jan. 6 and sent a text message saying he would put “a bullet in her noggin on Live TV,” the federal authorities said.
Federal agents said he had been staying at a Holiday Inn in Washington and had weapons in his camper-style trailer, including a Glock handgun, a pistol, a Tavor X95 assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Mr. Meredith has connections to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, and that he erected a billboard in Acworth, Ga., in 2018 that read, “#QANON” along with the name of his business, Car Nutz Car Wash. He was charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition, according to court records.
Doug Jensen
Mr. Jensen was captured on video pushing far into the Capitol, ignoring the warnings of a law enforcement officer. The F.B.I. arrested him early on Jan. 9.
Mr. Evans, a Republican who was elected to the West Virginia House in November, filmed himself entering the Capitol. Like many other members of the mob, he made no effort to conceal his involvement. “We’re in!” he said in his video. “We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
Bradley Rukstales
Mr. Rukstales, the former chief executive of an Illinois marketing company, was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the Department of Justice said.
Mr. Rukstales’s company Cogensia, based in Schaumburg, Ill., said in a statement on Jan. 8 that he had been placed on leave. “Mr. Rukstales’ actions were his own,” the company said in a statement. “He was not acting on behalf of our company nor do his actions in any way reflect the policies or values of our firm.” The company’s interim chief executive told CBS Chicago later on Jan. 8 that Mr. Rukstales had been fired.
Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson
Mr. Fracker and Mr. Robertson, two off-duty police officers from Rocky Mount, Va., were photographed in the Capitol building making an obscene gesture in front of a statue of John Stark, a military leader in the Revolutionary War, prosecutors said. Mr. Fracker is a corporal in the Virginia National Guard, which planned to conduct “an investigation into the matter,” a Guard spokesman said on Friday.
“CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business,” Mr. Robertson was quoted as saying on social media, according to the Justice Department. Each man was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, prosecutors said.
Dominic Pezzola
Mr. Pezzola, 43, of Rochester, N.Y., used a Capitol Police shield to break through a window at the Capitol, the F.B.I. said in court documents.
The F.B.I. said that an individual who appears to be Mr. Pezzola, who is also known as Spaz, was seen in a video posted to social media smoking a cigar inside the Capitol, saying, “victory smoke in the Capitol, boys.”
A witness told law enforcement that members of a group that included Mr. Pezzola said they would kill Vice President Mike Pence if given the chance, according to the court documents.
Mr. Pezzola was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. He was taken into custody on Friday.
Lonnie L. Coffman
Mr. Coffman, 70, of Falkville, Ala., was charged with one count of unlawful possession of a destructive device after federal authorities said they discovered the components of 11 Molotov cocktails in the form of Mason jars filled with ignitable substances, rags and lighters in Mr. Coffman’s pickup truck.
A search of the truck also turned up a handgun, one M4 carbine assault rifle and rifle magazines loaded with ammunition, the authorities said. When Mr. Coffman was searched, officials found two handguns on him.
Jenny Cudd
Ms. Cudd, a Texas resident, was charged with violent entry and being in a restricted building or grounds.
“I am proud of my actions,” she said, adding that she “charged the Capitol today with patriots.”
Ms. Cudd, wearing a “Women for Trump 2020” cap, said later in an interview with a television news station that she “would do it again in a heartbeat.”
In a 2019 interview during her candidacy for mayor of Midland, Texas, Ms. Cudd said she wanted to hire more police officers to ensure “that we have a safe community.”
Mark Leffingwell
Federal prosecutors said Mr. Leffingwell entered the Senate side of the Capitol and, when he was stopped by law enforcement, he struck an officer in the helmet and chest.
John E. Sullivan
Mr. Sullivan, a Utah resident, was charged on Thursday with entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and interfering with law enforcement.
He was wearing a ballistic vest and gas mask when he entered the Capitol through a broken window, according to an affidavit. He filmed various scenes during the riot, notably the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol.
Jenna Ryan
Ms. Ryan, who on her Twitter bio described herself as a “Dallas REAL ESTATE BROKER Who Flew a Private Jet to DC to March for Trump,” was charged on Friday with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
A federal affidavit included photos of Ms. Ryan inside and outside the Capitol, flashing the peace sign as she stood next to a window that had been broken by rioters.
“We just stormed the Capital. It was one of the best days of my life,” she later posted on Twitter.
After her arrest, Ms. Ryan told CBS-11 that President Trump should pardon her.
“I thought I was following my president,” she said. “I’m facing a prison sentence. I think that I do not deserve that.”
Emily Hernandez
Ms. Hernandez was photographed with part of the wooden name plate torn from the entrance to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. The F.B.I. said that at least three tipsters, including someone who was described as a high school friend, identified her to the authorities.
Ms. Hernandez, who lives in Sullivan, Mo., was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and stealing government property.
A federal affidavit included a photo of Ms. Hernandez, smiling and standing a few feet from Robert Keith Packer, who wore a sweatshirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz.”
The cost to replace the name plate is about $870, according to the affidavit.
Reporting was contributed by Maggie Astor, Katie Benner, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Maria Cramer, Johnny Diaz, Kevin Draper, Jacey Fortin, Adam Goldman, Nicole Hong, Michael Levenson, Christopher Mele, Giulia McDonnell Nieto, Sarah Maslin Nir, Bryan Pietsch, Azi Paybarah, Allyson Waller and Will Wright.
