Dangers, Dupes and Dopes

RECORDS FOR RIOTERS #505 to #563

Years ago, my father, the kind of old-fashioned conservative you could respect, signed me up for a subscription to Imprimis, a magazine put out by Hillsdale College. Considering the fact my father died in 1999, I’m not sure why I still receive this useless publication in the mails.

 

I can tell you, the main story in the November issue was titled “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax,” by Roger Kimball.

 

Kimball’s argument, boiled down to its right-wing essence was simple and simplistic. The attack on Capitol Hill wasn’t so bad! Trump didn’t stir up the mob! Sure, he might have been “imprudent.” But the Black Live Matters people tearing up America’s cities the previous summer were worse. As for those arrested in the wake of the Capitol Hill riot and still being held in jail, according to Kimball, they were “political prisoners.” 

When I did a little checking to determine who Mr. Kimball was, I noted he once claimed President Trump was “a man of good character.” 

I caught myself muttering, “How is it possible to graduate from Yale,” as Kimball did, “and still sound so dumb.” 

____________________ 

The mob Trump helped stir to action was just one of several dangerous weapons he was willing to employ.

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If you missed the story, because you only watch Fox News, and only read Laura Ingraham’s lips, we now know what many right-wing types – including her – really thought as the attack unfolded. They watched the mob storm the building and they knew who the attackers were and who stirred them to violence. 

Thanks to an investigation currently being conducted by the U.S. House of Representatives, we learned this week that on the day of the riot, Donald Trump Jr. sent a text to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. He wasn’t blaming Joe Biden or Antifa for what was exploding on live television. He was begging him to talk to his father. “He’s got to condemn this [shit] Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.” Congressional investigators also revealed that one unnamed lawmaker texted the chief of staff with the same message: “The president needs to stop this ASAP.” 

So Don Jr. knew. And the likely-GOP lawmaker knew. And the people at Fox News – who now claim the attack wasn’t so bad, or if it was, it was because of left-wing types who tricked good patriots into rioting – knew that very day. Ingraham texted Meadows as well, pleading with him to get the man in the Oval Office to call off the attack. “Hey Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home … this is hurting all of us … he is destroying his legacy.” 

And he was.

 

Brian Kilmeade, another Fox News host, knew too. “Please get him on tv,” he said of Mr. Trump, in yet another call to Meadows. The mob was, “Destroying everything you have accomplished.” 

Sean Hannity urged Meadows to get Trump to do something. “Can he make a statement? … Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Hannity implored. The answer, of course, was “yes.” Trump could have. Instead, he dallied and diddled and enjoyed watching the attack, which threatened democracy itself. His goal was simple. He wanted to overturn the results of an election that he clearly lost. 

The mob he helped stir to action was just one of several dangerous weapons he was willing to employ. 

In any case, it’s time to pick up our burden again and show the world who these people were that wanted to overturn a fairly-decided election in Donald J. Trump’s name.

 

Letters following each name are color-coded, as follows: 

Q = rioter believed in QAnon mythology.

RW = right-wing type.

S = rioter came to D.C. to “Stop the Steal” (also mythological).

V = the rioter favored violence.

T = ordinary Trump supporter.

Ts = believed “Trump sent me.”

LL = left-leaning (to be honest we’ve only found two who might lean to the left, and in neither case is it definitive).

 

 

505. Jeremy Brown: Brown is a former Green Beret, and a member of the Oath Keepers. He faces multiple charges for participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection and showed up for that event in tactical gear. This included, “a helmet, radio, a tactical vest, and prominently displayed large surgical trauma shears tucked into a pack sitting on the vest.” He also had “zip ties attached to his belt.”

 

You know – in case you needed to grab Vice President Pence and turn him over to be hanged.

 

____________________

 

If you’re going to shoot your fellow Americans, it helps to have 8,000 rounds of ammo.

____________________

 

Reading over the record in Mr. Brown’s case, you don’t need a degree from Yale to grasp what he and his like-minded friends had planned.

 

According to the affidavit a federal agent filed for and received a search warrant and was able to review Brown’s encrypted online chats.

 

In one message,

 

BROWN coordinated travel plans and rendezvous points [for the trip to D.C.]. On December 23, 2020, he messaged, “We have a RV an Van going. Plenty of Gun Ports left to fill. We can pick you up.” On January 1, 2021, BROWN, referring to his RV as “GROUND FORCE ONE” wrote:

 

GROUND FORCE ONE Departure Plan:

 

If you can, come to my house anytime Saturday. You can stop by and drop stuff off, or stay the night. This way we can load plan, route plan, and conduct PCIs (Pre Combat Inspections).

 

I would LIKE to depart by 0645 on Sunday morning, Jan 3rd. Push through to the NC linkup on the 3rd, RON (Rest Over Night) there, then push to DC on the 4th. This will give us the 4th/5th to set up, conduct route recons, CTR (Close Target Reconnaissance) and any link ups needed with DC elements. If you need to be picked up, then we will work that into route plan and will provide exact pickup time by Saturday evening. Please have EVERYTHING ready once we arrive. It will be an ERO (Engine Running Onload). IF YOU ARE RIDING WITH ME, dm me with your plan to come here or be picked up. I will send address via the dm.

 

I am willing to make adjustments all the way up until we pass your ass headed north, but it is now time to shit or get on someone else’s pot. READY? GO!!!

 

In fact, Brown may have sent word to Roger Stone** – he of lying to Congress about meeting with Russians in 2016 – he of a pardon by Donald J. Trump – despite seven felony counts – that he could help him out:

**This may be a different Mr. Stone; but we do know Stone was guarded by Oath Keepers on the morning of January 6.

 

 

“A fight between the godly and the godless.”

 

At a rally on the evening of Jan. 5, again with Oath Keepers providing security, Stone fired up his audience this way. Tomorrow he warned, a great battle would be fought. “This is a fight for the future of the United States of America,” he said. “It is a fight for the future of Western civilization as we know it, it is a fight between dark and light. It’s a fight between the godly and the godless. It’s a fight between good and evil.”

 

It was nonsense, what he said. Yet his listeners, many of them, including people like Brown, believed him.

 

Stone was advocating a fight between Americans, those who voted for Trump  (“good”) vs. those who voted for Biden (“evil”).

 

The next day, many who had come to Washington D.C. to support Trump were primed to fight.

 

If that wasn’t bad enough, Mr. Brown recently had the bright idea of selling his home on Zillow. (Perfectly legal, at least.)

 

According to federal agents, however, a picture of his office – because many people buying homes want room for an office – showed a whiteboard with lists. A buyer might even have wondered, does that whiteboard come with the house? Those lists were labeled, “Food,” “Clothing,” “Shelter,” “Currency,” “Communicate,” “Move,” and “Shoot.”

 

“Shoot???”

 

If you thought that sounded like Brown had plans to flee before trial, and go out in a blaze of gunfire if anyone tried to stop him, you would likely be correct. Under the “shoot” column, authorities surveilling Mr. Brown noticed there were “numerous firearms listed and explosive devices such as ‘flash bangs.’” The list on the whiteboard indicated Brown had the flash bangs “on hand.”

 

Brown was “not registered to possess explosive devices,” and F.B.I. agents arrived at his home and placed Brown (once again) under arrest.

 

He also had 8,000 rounds of ammunition on hand. Because if you’re going to shoot your fellow Americans?

 

You need lots of ammo.

 

RW, V

 

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506. Brandon Prezlin: Mr. Prezlin, 26, may have been inside the Capitol for no more than four minutes Now he faces four charges, after authorities received a tip about who a man in videos from the day of the riot really was. A dead giveaway, allegedly: The young man’s distinctive blue and gray shoes. 

Is Prezlin, at long last, the elusive Antifa type? Nope. He’s a former grassroots organizer for FreedomWorks, which Politico describes as a website that, 

highlighted a series of election fraud claims before and after the vote last November, stoking the same anger that brought many to the Capitol to insist — incorrectly — that former President Donald Trump had won reelection.

 

However, after the Jan. 6 riot, the advocacy group issued a statement saying violence had undercut “the very foundations of what our founding fathers built.”

 

In any case, Prezlin is likely to get off relatively lightly for his crimes, but he has also lost his job. 

T

 

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507. Richard Waltrous: Waltrous, 59, told federal agents, when interviewed in June, that he made plans to go to D.C. on Jan. 6, “as soon as” the president asked people to do so. Like a minuteman answering Trump’s call – minus the Redcoats to shoot at from behind stone walls – he drove 340 miles, from his home in Cortland, New York, to the nation’s capital on Jan. 5. 

Waltrous attended the “Stop the Steal” rally the morning of the riot, and, again, “as soon as” his fearless leader said march to the Capitol Building, Waltrous began stepping out. Now, he’s arrested and charged with a variety of non-violent crimes. And he wasted a lot of shoe leather and gas. 

Ts

 

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508. Michael Riley: The 25-year veteran on the U.S. Capitol police force is an odd addition to the list of arrestees. He faces at least one charge of obstructing the probe into the attack on Capitol Hill, telling a participant to delete all Facebook posts, showing he had been inside. 

On January 7, he allegedly sent this message (one of dozens he would send in days ahead) to someone he befriended on Facebook: “Hey (Person 1 in the indictment), im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance. Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to be charged.” 

In a later post he tells Person 1, “Im glad you got out of there unscathed. We had over 50 officers hurt, some pretty bad.” 

You’d think, normally, Officer Riley would have been concerned for his fellow officers who were hurt, especially those hurt “pretty bad.” 

Apparently not. 

T

 

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509. James Grant: Not all of the rioters on January 6, had such bloody plans as Mr. Brown; but the idea that these people weren’t Trump supporters is blown to bits by …let’s just say … the facts. USA Today adds the story of Grant to the mix, after the North Carolina man is arrested on October 14, and charged with various crimes, including assault on an officer of the law.

 

____________________

 

“I came to Washington, D.C. to support the President of the United States so my voice could be heard.”

 

James Grant

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His affidavit reads in part:

 

One rioter jumped over the barricade and attacked officers, and while they were trying to subdue him, Grant pulled him away. A third officer punched Grant, but he and others were able to move forward and overwhelm the officers…He was identified in part by a cap he wore, with an image of North Carolina, and the caption “Drink local.” The FBI obtained additional photos of Grant inside the Capitol by searching the cell phone of Gary Edwards [see #345 on our list], who was arrested in May.

 

Why was Grant in D.C. on January 6? This is not a difficult question to answer. On January 9, he told a reporter for WUSA, “I came to Washington, D.C. to support the President of the United States so my voice could be heard. As one of those 70 million plus disenfranchised voters. I feel as though my vote doesn’t count anymore.”

 

 

QUICK NOTE TO TRUMP FANS:

 

If you voted – and millions of you did –good job, performing your civic duty. Still, you weren’t “disenfranchised.” Because: You voted!

 

And your side lost.

 

That happens sometimes, as it did to our side in 2016. Or even in the recent Virginia governor’s election. People vote and their favorite candidates lose roughly half the time. You have to suck it up, not go off rioting.

 

In more than sixty court cases, since Trump lost the 2020 election, he and his lawyers have claimed voter fraud. The courts have rejected those arguments every time. Even the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the argument. In one case, the highest court in the land tossed out a legal brief filed by Trump’s team, asking to overturn the vote in Pennsylvania – and did it in one sentence! That’s how pathetic the case was to start. Even the three judges Trump appointed turned it down. Only two members of the court said they’d take it up, but said if the full court did, they also would have denied the Trump team’s arguments.

 

You can look these cases up.

 

In Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan recounts were loudly demanded and conducted. Trump lost again. In three of those states, Biden gained votes. In Georgia, three counts were carried out, and although Trump gained a few hundred votes, he still lost by thousands. Then he called Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State, and demanded that Raffensperger “find” 11,780 votes, just one more than Trump needed to “win” the state. Raffensperger is a Republican. He says the then-President of the United States “threatened” him if he didn’t find the votes. You can look every bit of this up.

 

Don’t be a lazy dolt, like your favorite ex-president.

 

Just follow the links I have so thoughtfully provided. You can listen to the Georgia call if you like and hear your favorite feloniously-inclined former President of the United States beg Raffensperger to break the law and get him just enough votes to turn Georgia red again.

Anyway, back to Mr. Grant. He also claimed, just three days after the Jan. 6 attack, that he hoped those who had resorted to violence would be arrested, but said, no, no, no way were they Trump fans. “There were people in that crowd who weren’t Trump supporters. My buddy got hit in the back of the head with a pipe,” he told reporters. “Why would a Trump supporter attack another Trump supporter?”

 

He continued: “There were definite actors in that crowd. Whether they’re right wing conservative or left wing. There were people there not just there to protest.”

 

If there were “left-wing” people there, or “actors,” they haven’t turned up in court yet. Whereas people like Jeremy Brown and James Grant do constantly. Mr. Grant is facing multiple federal charges. He’s a Trump fan all the way.

 

T, S

 

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510. Christian Matthew Manley: Manley, 26, stands accused of pepper-spraying police on January 6, discarding the cannister when empty, using a second cannister, and finally throwing a metal pole at officers defending Capitol Hill. He was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska on October 15. 

He has been described by the judge at his bail hearing as “leading the charge,” that day, calling others to join in the assault. After everyone in court for his hearing watched videos of the riot, the judge denied bail, saying that Manley had gone to Washington D.C. for one reason: “He came to fight.” Manley previously served with the Marines, but has a “less than honorable discharge,” according to court records. He moved to Alaska in August, perhaps in hopes of evading arrest. 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT CURRENTLY KNOWN.)

 

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“The deplorables have taken back our country.” 

511. Julio Cesar Chang: Again, USA Today nails who Mr. Chang is. 

A tipster told the FBI that Chang posted on Facebook that he had participated in the Jan. 6 riot, sharing photos of train tickets and comments about the “1776 Part 2 Revolution.” The FBI reported seeing a post of Chang, wearing a Trump ball cap and U.S. flag scarf, outside the Capitol captioned[,] “The deplorables have taken back our country.” He was also seen on security footage inside the Capitol, the FBI stated. He is a former employee of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, and was identified by former co-workers.

 

Not only is Chang a “former employee of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, further checking reveals that he is former “Lieutenant Chang,” who called the assault on Capitol Hill “the second American Revolution.”

 

(Hillary Clinton famously referred to “half” of the Trump base in 2016 as belonging in a “basket of deplorables.”)

 

T

 

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512. Meghan Rutledge: The Virginia woman entered the Capitol Building with her father, William Thomas Bostic, Jr. (see: #513). According to court documents, Rutledge put herself inside the building that day, posting on social media, “After miles and miles of walking and cimbing [sic] and climbing some more we made it inside the capitol building. What an experience for the books.” 

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT CLEAR.)

 

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“Baton, body armor, helmets.”

 

513. William Thomas Bostic, Jr.: According to USA Today, “Charging documents,” in Mr. Bostic’s case, “state that grand jury subpoenas for cell phone records showed Bostic had communications prior to Jan. 6 with a person who coordinated convoys, communications plans, maps and lists including a packing list. That list included a baton, body armor, helmets and portable chargers.”

 

Additional digging indicates that “William” is actually “Willard,” and that Willard prefers to be called “Tom.” (The charging document in his case, however, do list him as “William.” So, there you go.)

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT CLEAR.)

 

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514. James Philip Mault: No way of knowing if Mr. Mault sang, “The wheels on the bus go round and round,” on his way to Washington D.C. We do know he and several friends rode to the capital on a bus driven by his father, with the purpose of protesting the election certification.

 

He is now charged with a variety of crimes, including spraying police officers with chemical irritant.

 

At one point, videos show Mault helping another rioter who has been sprayed himself by police. Mault told F.B.I. agents, when interviewed, that he didn’t know who the man was. According to court documents he did. That “non-friend,” Cody Mattice, has also been charged. (See: #515.)

 

T

 

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515. Cody Mattice: Let’s just say that these rioters, there to protest the results of the election, came prepared – assuming your real intention was to riot. Mattice, like his friend, is accused of pepper-spraying police.

 

I am thinking about how that the song should now be, “The wheels on the bus go round and round, we’re going to jail, because we’ve been found.”

 

But that’s just me.

 

(I should also note that Mattice is being represented in court by a federal public defender, which is kind of cool. The same government which he wanted to overturn, is guarding his rights in court. And taxpayers like me are helping foot the bill! So proud. My tax dollars at work!)

 

Mattice showed up for the riot on January 6, wearing a Trump sweatshirt, and with what looks like a bicycle helmet on his head. Various texts allegedly show Mattice planning how to disrupt the election certification, and in one message, “Cody from Rochester,” announces proudly, “I also maced a cop.”

 

T

 

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516. Isaac Westbury: Mr. Westbury is part of a family that likes to stick together and riot together. His brother was charged last April (and we add him to our count now, see #517). Also arrested: His dad (#518). A woman at the same address, Rosemary Westbury, described the arrests as part of a “tyrannical system that is bullying the citizens of this once great United States of America.” 

She later added: “The government that we have in place is a domestic threat as far as I’m concerned.” 

T

 

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517. Jonah Westbury: Charged long before his brother, and his dad, and Aaron Jones (#519), a family friend, he faces two charges, impeding official proceedings and unlawful entry of a federal building.

 

If we assume all four individuals are found guilty – and they may not be – we can predict Jonah will be out before Isaac, and Aaron, the family friend.

 

T

 

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518. Robert Westbury: Dad, 62, is charged mostly with lesser crimes, such as disorderly conduct and impeding “the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions.”

 

You kind of know where these people stand when a Republican lawmaker from their home state posts on Facebook, on October 25, a link soliciting donations to a defense fund in their behalf. That Minnesota state senator, Mark Koran, thinks better of his post, however, and deletes it.

 

T

 

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519. Aaron Jones: Jones and Isaac Westbury (#516) are charged with a variety of offenses, including carrying a “dangerous and deadly weapon, that is, a law enforcement shield” during the riot. They are also charged with two counts of “physical violence” against police.

 

T

 

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520. Anthony Vuksanaj: Mr. Vuksanaj has serious legal problems, having been arrested on a charge of armed robbery in June. Police confiscated his phone at that time, and a search revealed that the same number had been recorded as present during the January attack on Capitol Hill. 

The chunky 52-year-old from Mahopac, New York can allegedly be seen in videos from January 6, filming himself inside the building, and wearing a Trump sweatshirt, sort of the “uniform of the day.” 

The defendant checks off another right-wing box, you might say, when local news outlets note: 

Two years ago, in June 2019, Vuksanaj and his wife, Gina, were arrested in Somers and charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime. He also was charged with criminal possession of a weapon. According to news reports that cited the New York State Police, the couple attempted to forcibly remove a person from a vehicle during a domestic dispute and damaged her car with a tire iron, and the crimes appeared to be related to the victim’s sexual orientation.

 

The victim, a female, was a family member.

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION TECHNICALLY UNKNOWN – IF NOT A RIGHT-WING TYPE, THIS BLOGGER WOULD BE SURPRISED.)

 

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521. Moises Romero: Mr. Romero, 28, was arrested on October 7, and charged with three crimes for his part in the January melee. He was turned in, originally, by an old high school classmate, which could make their tenth high school reunion awkward. When not busy trying to overturn elections, Romero works as  a nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital in Pembroke Pines, Florida. 

(NO CURRENT INFORMATION ON HIS POLITICAL AFFILIATION.)

 

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522. Edward Spain Jr.: The U.S. Army veteran from Oklahoma, age 56, traveled a long way to get arrested. According to USA Today, and The Oklahoman, Spain confessed to the F.B.I. in an interview and written confession that he had been inside the Capitol. “I had no intent on entering the Capitol Building but did so after hearing that shots had been fired on the Senate floor.” After federal authorities contacted him, he handed over a bag of clothes he admitted he wore on January 6, including a U.S. Army baseball cap. “I did not vandalize anything. I had no intent of causing harm or to anyone or anything. I utilized poor judgment in doing so,” he wrote. 

“We are wasting time!” the Trump-loving fellow posted on Facebook in the wake of the November election. Millions, he said, should march on D.C. to demand answers.  

Such as, is 81 million votes for Biden more than 74 million for Trump? Answer: Yes. It is, Ed. 

As The Oklahoman notes, “The Republican is listed in voting records as having an address in Chelsea, a town about 40 miles northeast of Tulsa.” 

T

 

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523. Danielle Nicole Doyle: Doyle, 37, a former employee of the Oklahoma City Thunder has already plead guilty to charges related to her role on January 6. She was fined $3,000 and ordered to pay $500 in restitution, as her “share” for the damages done by the mob. 

According to her lawyer, Doyle’s sentence is the most lenient handed down so far, and his client is pleased.

 

In her written statement, she described Jan. 6 as  a day where “hundreds of thousands of Americans came together in support of our President and the America that we love.”

 

“It was exciting and full of energy,” she wrote.

 

She also wrote about how things changed and how at one point she confronted someone who had “picked up a stanchion to break something.”

 

“I gently took their arm, looked into their eyes, and said, ‘That’s not what we’re here for,’” she wrote.

 

Breaking democracy, though?

 

Sure.

 

T

 

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524. Kenneth Thomas: See if you can decipher where Mr. Thomas, who goes by his middle name, “Joseph” or “Joe,” stands by reading this paragraph from his charging document:

 

On or around midnight on January 6, 2021 (the late evening of January 5, 2021 into the early morning hours of January 6, 2021), an individual identifying himself as “Pi Annon” entered Ashland, Virginia around the vicinity of North Carter Road. Pi Annon took a video of his activity in Ashland, Virginia, convening a caravan of approximately 60 vehicles in anticipation of a scheduled rally in D.C. later that day (“Video 1”). Later in Video 1, Pi Annon addressed the caravan participants, stating “we all are meeting at the Ellipse to listen to Mike Lindell and President Trump speak. After that, we’re all going to march together down to the [U.S.] Capitol to listen to Michael Flynn and the events going on down there….See you in D.C.” Video 1 also showed a local news channel interview Pi Annon as the “organizer” of the “Maga Caravan” going to D.C.

 

The bad news: He now faces several charges, including two related to assaulting police officers. Again, his indictment reads:

 

Subsequent interviews with law enforcement officers who were present at the Upper West Terrace confirmed that the depicted individual did, in fact, attack them. Officers stated that this individual “was one of the first to come in and start hitting [and] pushing officers on the line” and “tried to kick [their] shield,” “tr[ied] to punch around [their] shield,” and “engaged other officers.” Throughout his interactions with law enforcement on the Upper West Terrace, THOMAS continually held a cellular phone up, apparently recording the events as they occurred.

 

The good news for Thomas, if any? A video he made from January 6, did get 181 views!

 

T, Q (I am guessing)

 

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525. David Antonio Ticas: Mr. Ticas is a Marine veteran – in fact, a retired Staff Sergeant – and has an Instagram account, @dave_247. In the wake of the riot, he posted a picture of himself inside the Capitol, with the caption, “Storm the Capital!” and the hashtags, “#StopTheSteal” and “#DemocratsAreCriminals….”

 

When his picture was taken down on Instagram, based on a violation of community guidelines, he complained, “I guess only the clowns of BLM & Antifa can post their peaceful protests.”

 

On or about January 7, 2021, Instagram user @gethart13 sent TICAS a message saying, “Stay safe out there outlaw,” to which TICAS responded, “Lol. I left the city, was there to have my voice heard. These politicians are straight up criminals.

There is a reason for this non-pandemic to continue, it’s the nwo trying to get rid of Trump.”

 

(Note to Trump fans: the pandemic still continues, because…it’s a pandemic, not some kind of liberal trick.)

 

T, S

 

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526. Karl Dresch: Mr. Dresch has plead guilty to one charge, carrying a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

 

Prosecutors note that damage to the Capitol on January 6 (totaled as of May 17), amounted to “approximately $1,495.326.55.” Dresch also agreed to pay a fine “in the amount of $500.”

 

The judge in his case described the defendant as “an enthusiastic participant” in the attack, but Dresch, 40, had already been lodged in jail for seven months at the time of his plea agreement – and also accepted the fact that the description of his other violations of law was correct, including a charge of witness tampering.

 

Dresch, a convicted felon, was found in possession of a number of firearms at the time of his arrest.

 

He posted on social media that he would be heading for DC to “Stop the Steal,” and urged others to join him. “NO EXCUSES! NO RETREAT! NO SURRENDER!” he wrote. “TAKE THE STREETS! TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY! 1/6/2021=7/4/1776.”

 

In fact, Dresch wanted to be sure that people like him got credit for the takeover, posting a video of his role, captioned:

 

Ok all conspiracy theorists [smiling emoji] don’t worry i loves yous all just setting the record straight.antifa did not take the capitol.that was patriots. I can’t guarantee there weren’t some shit birds in the crowd but what multi-million crowd can you guarantee?.don’t give them the thunder, we the people took back our house, the news is all bullshit.and now those traitors Know who’s really in charge. And I can’t say I saw any violence from our people, despite all the poking of the capitol police, gassing randomly into women and children being peaceful, beating old men we kept it chill.

 

T, S

 

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527. Michael Timbrook: Timbrook, “known to reside in Tennessee,” is among more than 650 individuals charged in the January 6 riot. He is allegedly seen inside the Capitol, and easy to pick out in a distinctive orange stocking cap. 

On February 9, two federal agents visited Timbrook, identified themselves, and explained the nature of their visit. “TIMBROOK stated he was ready to take the penalty for what he did on January 6, 2021.” 

He was shown various social media posts he had made, and even agreed to sign and date them. One, from January 10, read: 

Sorry friends and family, but I guess all y’all hate me now. I’ve been admonished, criticized, judged and condemned, for what I consider to be an act of patriotism, by the entire news media, celebrity class, political class, religious groups, hell everybody with a social media has weighed in and found us Guilty of violating the Sanctity of a public building. All the while for the past two generations that I know of, we’ve all been complaining about how crooked our government is and there’s nothing we can do. Blah blah blah… I’m PROUD of everyone who went in there, even the thirty or so rowdy ones. Go ahead and ban me now because I have found my voice and I’m going to tell this story.

 

T

 

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528. Jean Lavin: Lavin, from Connecticut, is charged along with her daughter (#529) with illegal entry on January 6, in part based on social media posts made by her daughter. In one picture, Lavin is seen wearing a pink stocking cap, with the word Trump showing, with her daughter in a red Trump stocking cap and dark blue Trump sweatshirt, by her side.

 

Prosecutors allege that Lavin can be seen inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. “LAVIN was wearing a red jacket, a pink shirt, a pink hat that said “Trump” and carried a purple backpack. She carried a sign that had two American flags attached to it that read on one side, “Trump Won” and read on the opposite side, “Don’t allow 7 states of cheaters to hijack our election!”

 

T, S

 

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529. Carla Krywicki: Krywicki and her mother have been charged for their roles in the attack.

 

As for where they stand on the political spectrum, Krywicki posted on Facebook that day: “this is history. we do not go burning down our city and stealing from your business. we come for the government officials that are ruining our country. we go straight to the source. change needs to happen. that is our house and you work for us.”

 

T, S

 

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530. Deborah Lee: If there’s one over-arching lesson for these rioters, it’s: Don’t post about your criminal activities on social media. Lee allegedly posted pictures from inside the Capitol Building with captions like:

 

IT’S OUR HOUSE. FUCK NANCY AND THE DEMOCRATS. WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO OCCUPY THE CAPITAL!!

 

“Yes we broke in. Got to the (?) House? Idk it was fkd. They had guns on us. Live ammo. A 16 yr girl was shot in the neck n died. She was with the group that stormed the back”

 

Someone asked: “Was any antifa in the capitol?”

 

Lee responded: “yes we took weapons from them. Poles with nails in them. I have video. As soon as I can I’ll post. They were mixed in with us”

 

(Kind of like imaginary Antifa friends?)

 

Even worse, if you’re a rioter, Lee posted information indicating that she was inside the building with “Michael Joseph.” (See #531.)

 

T

 

* 

531. Michael Joseph Rusyn: Based on Lee’s social media posts (above), federal agents visited Rusyn, who admitted he was at the Capitol on January 6. “Rusyn said some people in the crowd were armed with weapons such as broom sticks with a nail or hook affixed to the ends. Rusyn told the agents he was pushed inside the Capitol and denied making a conscious decision to go inside.” 

He was arrested on April 8. 

A search of Rusyn’s phone turns up pictures and videos of Lee and himself, one of Lee standing atop a government vehicle in a distinctive, multi-colored jacket.

 

T

 

* 

 

532. Jia Liu: According to his charging document, Liu enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves in 2014. He is currently an E-4, or corporal. Liu was arrested on October 29 and charged with four misdemeanors.

 

No other information currently available.

 

*

 

“We should.”

 

533. James Douglas Lollis Jr.: Mr. Lollis gets arrested after F.B.I. agents receive a tip that Derek Gunby (#445 on the list) has posted pictures and video on social media, placing himself and Lollis inside the Capitol Building on January 6.

 

With friends like these…

 

Lollis is allegedly seen wearing a baseball cap with the date, “1776” in orange on the front.

 

In one video, Gunby says, in part,

 

So, I went with James here, James Lollis, and we met up with some people from Texas,… So yeah we went, we were in front of the White House earlier this morning, and then going into the afternoon, everyone headed down to the National Mall towards the Capitol. And we all pretty much surrounded the Capitol. We are at a point now in this country where they are going to listen to us. They have to listen to us. Your congressional leaders are not afraid of you.

 

At the right moment in the video, Gunby turns his camera to show his friend Lollis, seated on what appears to be a D.C. Metro bus. Naturally, Lollis is wearing a dark blue “Trump 2020” sweatshirt.

 

Gunby then turns the camera back on himself  and says, “The American patriot in this country has been, we’ve been Saints. Saints. Because the capability of America, and Americans, especially if we were the kind of people that the media always portrays us to be, we can take this country back pretty quickly. We didn’t bring weapons.

 

A voice off camera can be heard saying, “We should.”

 

Lollis is also seen in pictures from the riot with a yellow, “Don’t Tread on Me” flag sticking out of his backpack, and at one point appears to get pepper-sprayed right in the face.

 

T

 

*

 

534. Jennifer Parks: Mrs. Parks, 61, from Kansas was turned in five days after the riot, by a tipster who knew her daughter. Mrs. Parks’ daughter had posted on social media: “So depressed over all of the cheating in the election right now. Mom and her friend went to Washington for the March. Wish I could have gone too. Lol.”

 

As court documents note, “PARKS’ daughter added: ‘We should all be climbing over those walls. They pushed us too far.’”

 

On January 17, 2021, PARKS was located and voluntarily interviewed. According to PARKS, she attended the rally in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021. PARKS believed she was attending a peaceful rally in support of President Donald Trump. PARKS, along with Esther Schwemmer (SCHWEMMER), entered the U.S. Capitol for “thirty minutes to one hour” after the doors were broken. PARKS entered the Capitol Building through the front lower door with no stairs. PARKS proceeded up a round staircase to the second floor and observed groups of people praying and singing. PARKS sung the U.S. national anthem in a group on the second floor of the building.

 

She and Schwemmer, 55 (#535, below), plead guilty  September 28, to one misdemeanor charge each. The lifelong friends have agreed to pay $500 restitution each – the going fee for individuals who played a minor role in trashing Capitol Hill.

 

T, S

 

*

 

535. Esther Schwemmer: In the affidavit supporting her arrest, we read that she and Parks were present for President Trump’s speech. They headed for Capitol Hill, as per his instructions:

 

SCHWEMMER added that she heard members in the crowd suggest going to the front of the Capitol building to conduct peaceful protesting. SCHWEMMER claimed that she and PARKS walked to the front of the Capitol Building, encountered no barricades and no police officer told them to stop. SCHWEMMER saw the open doors to the U.S. Capitol Building and entered with PARKS. They entered the building through the lower door in the front and went straight to the “roundabout” area. SCHWEMMER described the building as “messy and smelled bad” so they went upstairs. While upstairs, SCHWEMMER saw a female being released from handcuffs and escorted out of the building. SCHWEMMER stated police were around them and letting them walk around. As soon as a police officer told them to leave, SCHWEMMER and PARKS left the building. SCHWEMMER was wearing a brown Carhartt type jacket, a Trump 2020 flag wrapped around her, a backpack, and a Make America Great Again beanie hat. SCHWEMMER provided the attached photograph of her and PARKS taken outside of the Capitol Building:

 

Parks and Schwemmer, right, both came to Washington D.C. to take part in a peaceful protest in support of President Trump.

 

T

 

*

 

536. Anthony Scirica: Scirica was identified in footage of the riot by two co-workers. The Kernersville, N.C. man initially faced four charges.

 

He also thanked “Lauren” for finding a picture, apparently of himself, back to the camera, in a video inside the Capitol Building.

 

On Sept. 28, he plead guilty to one charge, and could face a fine of $5,000 and up to six months in jail.

 

Scirica traveled all the way to D.C. to help “Stop the Steal,” and all he got for his troubles was an arrest record.

 

T, S

 

*

 

537. Cara Maureen Hentschel: The F.B.I. agent in Ms. Hentschel’s case explains that a tipster provided evidence she had been inside the Capitol Building on January 6. On March 8, an agent contacted the suspect by phone. “I identified myself as an FBI Special Agent and explained that I was investigating crimes committed in and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. HENTSCHEL declined to answer any questions but stated that she would cooperate if charged with a crime.”

 

The following picture was located on Instagram:

 Here social media posts include this, from Jan. 6: “The WASHINGTON DC POLICE DEPT murdered an UNARMED woman tonight! The media seems to keep leaving out the fact that it was the COPS who did that.”

 

– and –

 

“Patiently waiting for our wonderful President of the United States to speak. Jan. 6, 2020.”

 

Then she identified a woman in a picture beside her: Mahailya Pryer. The two women send messages back and forth, “proud patriots,” “I love you so much,” “thank you for making history with me.”

 

Now: getting arrested together. “The experience of a lifetime,” you could say. (See #538.)

 

T

 

*

 

538. Mahailya Pryer: F.B.I. agents file for a search warrant and gain access to phone records for both Henschel and Pryer, putting them inside the Capitol Building during the riot.

 

In Pryer’s case, the affidavit reads in part:

 

On or about June 3, 2021, I interviewed PERSON 1 by phone. PERSON 1 is PRYER’s relative. PERSON 1 traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021, with PRYER and HENTSCHEL. PERSON 1 denied having done anything wrong on January 6 or having entered the U.S. Capitol and did not appreciate what people did on January 6.

 

PERSON 1 called PRYER during the interview and told PRYER she should cooperate with the FBI. PERSON 1 made the call to PRYER without any direction from or request by the FBI. PRYER became angry and hung up on PERSON 1.

 

A further search of phone records turned up a series of text messages on Hentschel’s phone. Asked by a friend if she had breached the Capitol, she replied, “I was the first group in. Yes.”

 

Then: “We storm peloskis office and took her beer. She drinks Corona.”

 

“Badass,” a friend calls Hentschel in another series of texts, after she says she got inside the halls of Congress.

 

T

 

*

 

“A show of solidarity to right the wrongs of the past election.”

 

539. Kurt Peterson: A search warrant reveals Peterson’s presence inside the Capitol rather clearly:

 

To my family and friends who are able to see this, I am writing it with a voice recognition program while driving. I feel the need to keep moving and trying to keep my phone wrapped such that it can’t be traced most of the time. I was at our nation’s capital for the rally and watched the presentations at the ellipse prior to walking to the Capitol building with at least a million and a 1-1/2 to 2 million people.

 

The people that were there at the ellipse were peaceable and loving and supporting our country. The people that were at the capital were also primarily peaceful and loving our country. But when there are huge crowds and there are people that are inciting violence the crowds will many times be pulled in to this action.

 

I was with 3 men who had served our country in special forces. All of us in our sixties. They were patriots and not an anarchists. When at the back door that we were at open and there were no police to restrain the crowd many people entered at that time. I stood at the door and told everyone that we were not there to hurt anybody or damage anything but as a show of solidarity to right the wrongs of the past election.

 

I did stop some men from trying to break down the large wooden doors to the house chamber. Then I saw chairs being brought into the corridor going to the speaker's lobby. They also grabbed a large sign with a heavy metal base stating no photography. I pushed into the corridor yelling for them to stop trying to break through the doors in to the speaker’s lobby. The woman who was shot used the leg of a chair to hit a glass panel in the door. There were numerous police officers in the stair tower and hallway that I was in.

 

Before I could get to her the shot rang out from behind the doors in the speaker's lobby through the glass which shattered hitting many please officers and people there. It was a young man in a suit who was supposedly a bodyguard for Chuck schumer.

 

The bullet hit the woman in the neck which caused her to fall backwards amediately. It could have hit numerous pleas officers that were there. Non lethal force could have been use with out the lethal shot that was made by this body guard in the speaker's lobby.

 

I had my 1st aid deer with me and asked numerous times to be allowed to render 1st aid to this woman while she was bleeding on the floor. I was told that they were waiting for the fire department to Russ pond and they would not let me give her 1st aid. She died on the floor within 10 minutes of the shot being made. The crowd became agitated but I yell the loudly and said we were all going to pray at that moment for everyone and volved which we did.

 

Sadly I do not trust many branches or people in our government particularly the federal bureau of investigation. So at this time I am moving continuously and wrapping my phone in such a way that I hope it cannot be tracked. If for any reason I am not available to see you or meet with you again know that my intentions are to keep our country free of oppression by an over zealous government.

 

God-bless you all and God-bless the United States of America!

 

According to law enforcement officials, Peterson was more involved in leading the attack than he lets on. In one video, the suspect is allegedly seen “wearing a camouflage baseball hat, eye protection, and a camouflage vest over a black sweatshirt’ and uses “wooden sticks and his fist to smash an exterior window pane of the Capitol building. … He shouts, “This is our house. Let us in. Our house.”

 

His charging document also notes: “The Architect of Capitol has determined that the cost to replace the damaged window is in excess of $2,700, including the materials, labor, and installation.”

 

Peterson faces four charges.

 

T, S

 

*

 

One rioter knows robbery!

 

540. Mark Ponder: Unlike many rioters, Mr. Ponder had a short trip to the riot. A resident of the District of Columbia, according to the affidavit in his case he can be seen on police body cameras, “at approximately 2:31 p.m.” attacking officers with a thin metal pole. One unknown officer “defends himself by raising a round, clear riot shield in front of his face. As PONDER strikes the round shield with the pole, the pole appears to break and the top portion of the pole flies to the side.”

 

Not to be denied,

 

PONDER then turns and runs back into the crowd. As he approaches the crowd, he appears to bend down and attempt to pick something up. Moments later, shortly before 2:32 p.m. PONDER reemerges from the crowd holding another long pole. This second pole appears to be thicker than the first pole and is colored with red, white, and blue stripes.

 

Police body cameras allegedly show Ponder running at officers and striking at officers in a group. “One officer standing at the front of that group uses a clear, rectangular riot shield to protect himself from PONDER’s blows.”

 

Ponder is not done yet. Seventeen minutes later, still armed with the red, white and blue pole, he allegedly strikes a third officer. Soon after that, he is tackled to the ground and placed in handcuffs.

 

The defendant is the rare African American arrested during the Jan. 6 riot but he’s just as dumb as any of the white guys in the crowd. At one point, he can be seen on police video telling officers,

 

You know, deep in your heart, you know…that your fathers, your grandfathers, they fought for this freedom in which people are giving away. The thing is, at some point you are going to have to choose and make up your mind what side you are going to take…that’s what we fighting for because they are stealing that right…and its blatant, everybody can see it.

 

By the time he’s done he ends up facing twelve charges, including several potential felonies for assault.

 

Raw Story also reports:

 

During his interview with the FBI, MAGA rioter Mark Ponder said that he felt he had to storm the Capitol building because the Supreme Court and former Attorney General Bill Barr weren’t doing enough to keep former President Donald Trump in the White House.

 

“You cannot stand if someone is going to take it from you, if you are going to get robbed,” he said. “And you go to work every day and you go outside and somebody robs you. That’s something you can’t take, right?... And that’s how I feel about this election.”

 

 

FUN FACT: Ponder knows robbery by experience, having earlier in life been convicted of two felonies, one for robbing a taxi driver, the other for sticking up a bank.

 

T, S

 

*

 

541. Joshua John Portlock: Portlock showed up on Jan. 6 for a riot,

 

wearing dark boots, jeans, a black jacket, olive green tactical gloves with black knuckle protectors, a red bandana around his neck, and a black beanie or stocking cap on his head beneath a white cowboy hat with the words “Trump 2020” on the front, “Stop the Steal” in red letters on the back, and an American flag pattern printed on the underside of the brim of the hat. Further, as later discussed and presented in the photo above, the black beanie has a yellow wreath emblem on it, a sign of affiliation with the Proud Boys.

 

Portlock is also known to have attended Proud Boy rallies in D.C. on November 14 and December 12, 2020.

 

He was certainly a busy rioter on January 6, at one point using a large piece of plywood like a shield, and with the help of others, using it to knock back a line of police.

 

Later, inside a tunnel entrance to the Capitol, he helped organize the attack. As the affidavit notes:

 

PORTLOCK was in the tunnel for approximately 15-20 minutes, during which time he assaulted and obstructed officers as well as assisted other rioters in assaulting and obstructing officers in several ways. Significantly, on at least two occasions, PORTLOCK participated in “heave-ho” efforts, by which multiple rioters collectively used their body mass for greater effect in pushing back officers by gaining momentum through leaning back and then pushing forward while chanting “heave-ho” to coordinate their efforts. Additionally, on at least two occasions, PORTLOCK participated in moving what appears to be stolen USCP riot shields to the front of line of rioters to assist the rioters at the front of the line in pushing against officers.

 

Later, he lost his cowboy hat in the chaos, and did, at least, help pull one, maybe two police officers out of the crowd, where they were being pummeled and pounded. Or, as Trump once said, enjoying a few “hugs and kisses.”

 

Trump. What an ass. As for Portlock, he faces four separate charges in the attack, including one for assault.

 

T, RW

 

*

 

542. Nicole Prado: Social media posts once again trip up a rioter. After tipsters contact federal authorities, it doesn’t take long to pile up evidence that Prado was inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.

 

In one picture she is allegedly seen standing in front of a statue of Thomas Jefferson. She’s holding a large white flag with the silhouette of an AR-15 in black, with words in black, “Come and take it.” That’s a twist on something the defenders of the Alamo said in 1836.

 

In an accompanying video, someone jokingly says, referring to Prado, “Please meet the new Congresswoman... she uh, she just was in the Capitol for the first time today. She stormed the Capitol, she’s the new Congresswoman. She’s the new Speaker of the House.”

 

(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)

 

*

 

“Publicly bragging to friends and family about participating in the riot.”

 

543. Paul Gray Colbath: The criminal complaint against Mr. Colbath, from South Carolina, was not filed until October 20, but he has admitted he was inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

 

The complaint reads in part:

 

On or about January 11, 2021, a tipster contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Threat Operations Center to report that PAUL GRAY COLBATH, of Fort Mill, SC had been publicly bragging to friends and family about participating in the riots within the United States Capitol Building.

 

On or about January 22, 2021, COLBATH agreed to be interviewed by the FBI, including the undersigned, at his residence. He stated that he did not “assault” the Capitol building, but did enter it via an open door. Before entering the Capitol, COLBATH heard the sound of glass breaking, which he stated he assumed was a window.

 

During the interview, COLBATH stated that when he first entered the Capitol building, he was in a hallway, and saw a cloud of what he believed was tear gas, and he saw a man near him who had been affected by the tear gas. He ushered the unidentified man into a nearby office to get fresh air. He did not know whose office he occupied. He advised that he saw a broken window and vandalism to the office, and when he saw the clear signs of destruction, he knew that being in the Capitol building was wrong. He only stayed in the office a short time, and he believed it was no more than five minutes.

 

The agent in his case also reports:

 

COLBATH advised that it felt good to get this off his chest. He stated that he did not want to turn himself in, because he did not feel like he did anything criminal, but that he still felt guilt about his participation. He felt ashamed and like he made “a big mistake.” He did not take any weapons with him to the Capitol or plan to promote sedition or overthrow the government.

 

In other words, Colbath does not seem, at first blush, like a terrible person, or even particularly dangerous on most days.

 

You could argue he was duped into believing the election was stolen – and the man who duped him was Donald J. Trump.

 

T

 

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544. Donnie Duane Wren: The Mississippi man is arrested and charged on October 6, along with his cousin, Thomas Harlen Smith (see #545). The pair are then named in a 10-count indictment.

 

That includes two acts of “physical violence.”

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)

 

*

 

545. Thomas Harlen Smith: Not much is known about his political affiliations, or those of  his cousin, Mr. Wren (#544).

 

We do learn that Smith was already facing a  felony charge for stealing gas, when he was foreman of the Oktibbeha County, Mississippi road department. So, let’s just say Mr. Smith is having a bad year.

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)

 

*

 

546. Elijah Yazdani: The Albany, Ohio man faces two misdemeanor charges for his role in the riot – which may amount to little more than entering the Capitol Building on January 6, and looking around.

 

You kind of figure he’s a right-wing type when he gets listed on a website called American Gulag, which lists many of the January 6 rioters under the label of “political prisoners,” which they are not.

 

RW

 

*

 

Using his hatchet to chop down the cherry tree of democracy.

 

547. Isaac Yoder: A tipster trips up Mr. Yoder, alerting authorities to the fact he was inside the Capitol on January 6, dressed as George Washington. Only in this case, using his hatchet to chop down the cherry tree of democracy.

 

On March 15, Yoder admitted to authorities that he entered the Capitol. Four days later, an article on the Newsweek website is entitled “George Washington Says if Capitol Rioters wanted Trouble There’d Be ‘Piles of Bodies’”

 

Like so many rioters on January 6, Yoder seems unaware that the “piles of bodies” of which he speaks would not be Redcoats or Hessians, as in the days of George Washington, but other Americans. Basically: Those of us, 81-million strong, who voted for Biden.

 

Yoder did have fun, however, playing dress up.

 

T

 

*

 

548. Kyle J. Young: Young and two others are indicted on thirteen counts for their part in the attack. (See: Albuquerque Cosper Head, #448, and Thomas Sibick, #245, on our lists.)

 

The trio are accused of assaulting Officer Michael Fanone, with Young said to have tried to steal his gun. Young is also charged with assaulting a second police officer on Jan. 6.

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION CURRENTLY UNKNOWN.)

 

*

____________________

 

“I’m afraid the time for rioting is over better clean those guns and invest in some level 4 armor.”

 

Ryan Scott Zink

____________________

 

 

549. Ryan Scott Zink: The defendant is described in court documents as “a 32-year-old white male who lives in Lubbock, Texas.” He’s also a “local musician,” “owner of Pressure Clean Oil, Gas, and Wind” of that city.

 

And perhaps a bit nuts.

 

Allegedly, Zink can be seen in multiple pictures and videos, doing his part to block the certification of votes for Joe Biden.

 

In one social media post, on Jan. 6, he places himself in D.C. and captions the photo, “Stop the Steal!!! Pray for us it’s already getting rough!!”

 

Later that day, he makes clear what role he played. He says the media lied about the time rioters breached the building and he has “pictures with time stamps to prove it.” In fact, he seems proud to claim he has proof he was one of the first. “Literally inside the capital,” he says, “shots fired on the floor there is fire and gas and flash bangs have been used multiple serious injuries reported.”

 

In a private Facebook message, he adds, “Broke down the doors pushed Congress out of session I took two flash bangs I’m ok I’ll be posting pictures in a bit when we get back I’m hurt but we accomplished the job.”

 

He rambles on at some length:

 

I went and fought for what I believe in I started no violence and even helped officers and injured people documented did what I felt was right. You don’t like it there’s a little button called Unfriend and do so immediately. A bunch of keyboard heroes saying what you would have done you weren’t there. You would have probably ran when it got heavy. I believe what I believe and if you believe different well that’s part of why I was there today. Standing up for all of us for the truth. We have no idea the hurt and pain this nation suffered today. I witnessed it first hand I saw people who were trained, coached, and dead set on destruction hurt police and in turn inward a woman died and you want to play games and talk shit to me about being there. History was made and I’m a part of it.

 

Not everyone went inside. It was a small group of about I would say 25-30 people and they were the only combative ones I got super close and documented everything I’m not some radical right wing nutjob I literally took pictures of them and saw the tattoos it’s not hard to identify. If you were there you could have seen this it was different in my life and in reporting I have seen what riots and violence looks like this was planned strategic trained tactical this was no ordinary rue it was a planned thing.

 

Punctuation, grammar, coherence? Not really his strengths.

 

On January 8, he posts again: “I’m afraid the time for rioting is over better clean those guns and invest in some level 4 armor.”

 

Here’s what his Facebook page looks like:

  

T, S, V

 

*

 

Trump fans refuse to face that fundamental point.

 

550. Grady Owens: Owens is charged with using a skateboard to strike multiple officers on Capitol Hill. In all, he racks up six different charges, including four potential felonies for assault.

 

On April 23, his lawyer files a motion to have his detention order revoked, insisting:

 

Grady Owens is a 21-year-old college student with no criminal record who has led a remarkable life helping others. During the January 6th riot on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, his skateboard became a defensive shield in a split second encounter with an unknown force that surprised him. He did not seek to incapacitate or injure a police officer. Grady has never advocated violence against any person or government.

 

Federal officials contest that motion on April 30.

 

The court rules on May 28, first noting, “As defendant concedes, the mob’s riotous actions ‘resulted in deaths, injuries, destruction and the gravest threat to our Republic since the Civil War.’”

 

Trump fans refuse to face that fundamental point.

 

Judge Beryl A. Howell takes up nearly 27 pages to explain his decision. He notes, on one side, that “videoclips show defendant swinging a skateboard at one MPD officer, yelling and making obscene gestures at MPD officers, and trying unsuccessfully to push past a police line to breach the Capitol building itself.”

 

On the other hand he writes, “Defendant now moves for revocation of the magistrate judge’s order and for pretrial release to the third-party custody of a pastor and music leader at defendant’s church in Spring Branch, Texas.” Grady’s lawyer also notes that the young man traveled to D.C. with his father, Jason Douglas Owens (#551), and his grandparents, purportedly “to pray for this nation, for the leaders, for peace and unity.”

 

Judge Howell adds that, unlike some defendants, there is no evidence young Owens planned his crimes.

 

Still, the court recognizes the danger police faced on January 6. “As the MPD officers approached the Capitol building, they were surrounded by a milling, agitated crowd screaming at and berating the officers variously for being ‘traitors,’ ‘storm troopers,’ ‘pigs,’ ‘oath breakers’ and ‘assholes.’” In addition, prosecutors note, after Grady raises the skateboard high and brings it down on one officer’s head, he continues to menace police. “He continues to yell at officers including among other indiscernible statements, ‘How do you live with yourselves!?’” and “points at the officers menacingly and makes obscene gestures.”

 

Judge Howell rightly observes that federal law requires a defendant be released on bail, unless “the judicial officer finds that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance [later in court] of the person as required and the safety of any other person and the community,”

 

That is, “In common parlance, the relevant inquiry is whether the defendant is a ‘flight risk’ or a ‘danger to the community.’”

 

“The weight of the evidence against defendant is strong,” Howell admits, but mitigating factors win out. “Defendant is 21 years old, has never been arrested nor has any criminal history, and he self reports a minimal history of drinking and marijuana use. … The over thirty letters submitted in support of defendant by family members and friends emphasize defendant’s exceptionally close relationship with his family, church and community.

 

Howell therefore agrees to the young man’s pre-trial release.

 

T

 

*

 

“President Trump and the country” are not the same.

 

551. Jason Douglas Owens: Well, dad, nice work. You brought your son (#550, above) to the nation’s capital and you both ended up under arrest.

 

Prosecutors allege that Jason Douglass Owens bought plane tickets to D.C. for himself and his son, and they came “to show support for President Trump and the country,” which, of course are not even close to the same. Now dad is also accused of assault among a variety of crimes.

 

T

 

*

 

552. Darrell Neely: Neely, resident of the District of Columbia, is among those arrested in October.

 

USA Today, explains the circumstances:

 

During efforts to identify him, the FBI interviewed three people who work with Neely at his radio station, Global Enlightenment Radio Network. Neely told cowokers that he acquired a Capitol Police jacket during the riot as a souvenir, as well as four china plates, the FBI stated in charging documents. He later discussed the riot on his YouTube channel.

 

Let’s just say Neely fits the profile of almost all the other persons so far arrested. As Radio Online notes:

 

Federal authorities allege that right-wing radio host Darrell Neely stole a baseball cap worn by a US Capitol Police officer during the Jan. 6 riot, then wore it during a live airing of his show. Three witnesses at the Global Enlightenment Radio Network, run by Neely, told the FBI that Neely bragged about stealing various items from an officer-including a dark-colored jacket with a silver badge, which he reportedly described as a “souvenir.” Neely also claimed he took china plates from inside the Capitol in messages and video calls placed in the midst of the riot, according to an affidavit.

 

The Washington Post reports that one witness, who saw Neely in person on Jan. 6, said he was “in possession of four china plates and a USCP jacket, badge, name tag, and baseball cap” and “boasted that he had attacked a USCP officer.” FBI agents who tuned in to livestreams of Neely’s show in the days after the riot saw Neely wearing the cap. Agents later tracked down the officer to whom the hat belonged, who claimed his or her belongings disappeared after they were removed during “decontamination from lacrimal spray,” meaning tear gas.

 

RW

 

*

 

Then again, were talking…Trump fans.

 

553. Daniel Joseph Rodriguez: Try as you may, when looking into cases of the people arrested for their roles in the January 6 attack on democracy, you just can’t find the elusive Antifa types who supposedly tricked the good, patriotic Trump fans into shouting for Mike Pence to be hanged.

 

In fact, if Trump fans want to know what Rodriguez, 38, was doing in Washington on the day of the Capitol Hill attack, they can watch video of his F.B.I. interview. I don’t think even Trump fans can miss this one.

 

Then again, we’re talking…Trump fans.

 

The fact is the defendant is crystal clear when agents ask what happened. “Trump called us. Trump called us to D.C... he’s the commander in chief and the leader of our country, and he’s calling for help – I thought he was calling for help,” Rodriguez responded. Then he began crying.

 

Through his tears, he adds, he’s not “a leader.”

 

Huff Post does a good job telling his basic story:

 

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger Trump fan than Rodriguez: He even tried to join the Army when Trump became president, showing up to a recruiting office with a Trump shirt on. So when Trump said that the election had been stolen, Rodriguez actually believed him, and when the president tweeted “Be there, will be wild!” about a protest in D.C. on Jan. 6, Rodriguez started making plans.

 

In a Telegram chat called “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang,” Rodriguez laid out his agenda. “We gotta go handle this shit in DC,” he wrote, later adding: “Congress can hang. I’ll do it. Please let us get these people dear God.” Days before the Capitol attack, before he left the Los Angeles area, federal authorities say Rodriguez told an associate that he’d “assassinate Joe Biden” if he got the chance and “would rather die than live under a Biden administration.”

 

When he arrived in D.C., Rodriguez did put it all on the line for the former real estate mogul he’d watched on “The Apprentice,” the reality-television personality who Rodriguez said was “almost like an old friend.” As the pro-Trump mob seized Mike Fanone, a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who self-deployed to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Rodriguez drove a stun gun into Fanone’s neck, shocking him. Fanone suffered a heart attack and barely made it out alive.

 

During his interview with the F.B.I., Rodriguez admitted he did taser Officer Fanone, adding, “We felt that they stole the election... we felt that they stole this country, that it’s gone, it’s wiped out. America’s over... it’s very stupid and ignorant, and I see that it’s a big joke, that we thought, that we thought that we were going to save this country.” 

He also talked about finding “intel” on a computer supposedly in the possession of Nancy Pelosi, proving that the election was stolen. “We thought we were...part of a bigger thing. We thought we were being used as a part of a plan to save the country, to save America, save the Constitution, and the election, the integrity.” 

Rodriguez now faces several serious charges, include one for conspiracy, in conjunction with Gina Bisignano (#163 on our list) and Ed Baladian (#554). Rodriguez’s lawyer is trying to get his confession tossed out by a judge, insisting his client was not clearly informed of his Miranda rights.

 

Ts, S, V

 

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“If you are gonna die, it best be on Capitol Hill!”

 

554. Edward Baladian: In social media circles, Baladian went by the moniker, “Trump Ed,” (not “Antifa Ed”) and can allegedly be seen in video from Jan. 6, standing arms upraised defiantly, shouting, “Fight for Trump!”

 

“Liberty or death,” he warns officers trying to block the mob at one point, admonishing rioters to follow him. “Push forward, Patriots! If you are gonna die, it best be on Capitol Hill!” he says.

 

Like Mr. Rodriguez, “Trump Ed” was a member of the “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang” chat. He was identified with help from online sleuths who dubbed him the #SwedishScarf because he was wearing a rare scarf from a city in Sweden when he arrived at the Capitol.  Along with Gina Bisignano (#163), Rodriguez (#553) and Baladian face a charge of conspiracy. Baladian, for example, posted on the PATRIOTS 45 chat, that those called to D.C. by President Trump would need to be prepared “to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions rapidly replace them with able bodied Patriots.”

 

Ts, S, V

 

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555. Timothy Desjardins: Mr. Desjardins, of Rhode Island, was charged on November 30 with using a broken table leg to beat a police officer during the attack. He was first stopped around 2 a.m. on the morning of January 7, as he tried to climb over a barricade and enter the Capitol Building. At that time he was carrying a camouflage backpack, with one or two hatchets attached with paracord.

 

Desjardins allegedly told officers he was “good” at using hatchets, but refused to give other information.

 

The agents initially released Desjardins because they determined there were no warrants out for his arrest. Once he left the FBI building, prosecutors say Desjardins ditched his backpack on the street. Police say they found the backpack a few hours later, inside of which was Desjardins’ ID, two black walkie talkies, three axes, a flashlight, assorted clothing, prescription bottles and a credit card.

 

Investigators say they confirmed Desjardins was at the Capitol during the riot by cross-referencing video from that day with his mugshot after he was arrested in October for allegedly firing a shot that grazed the head of another man in the parking lot of a Providence Walgreens.

 

Desjardins has been charged with six federal crimes, including engaging in physical violence on restricted grounds with a dangerous weapon. He has not yet entered a plea and is being held in jail in Rhode Island.

 

On November 11, a Providence police officer tried to serve a search warrant, related to the shooting incident, at the “We the People” barbershop owned by Mr. Desjardins. The proprietor pulled a pistol and the officer retreated and called for backup. A standoff ensued, lasting several hours.

 

(DEFENDANT’S POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNKNOWN AT THIS TIME.)

 

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556. Mark Andrew Mazza: The Shelbyville, Indiana man faces several serious charges, including bringing a loaded pistol to the January 6 riot, following his arrest on November 19. 

Mazza is alleged to have brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets, to the Capitol. Police recovered the weapon in the West Front Terrace area on Capitol Hill shortly after 2:30 p.m. on the day of the attack. 

According to court documents video footage shows the suspect in the crowd entering the tunnel to the Lower West Terrace doors at 3:08 p.m. Mazza allegedly holds doors open in an apparent effort to allow other rioters to enter. He holds a baton and pushes others toward officers, who are defending the area, and assaulting them. According to court documents, Mazza swings the baton at police and shouts, “This is our f**king house! We own this house!” 

According to court documents, on January 8, Mazza filed a false police report in Indiana, claiming the revolver was stolen from his car late on the evening of Jan. 5, at a casino in Ohio. Then, he told police, he drove back to Shelbyville, because he was all tuckered out from gambling.

 

In reality, 

Federal agents noted that the model of weapon Mazza allegedly carried on Capitol grounds “is one of a few handguns that can fire both shotgun shells and regular bullets through the barrel.”  The choice of weapon suggested to federal agents that Mazza intended “to use the weapon against multiple targets at the same time,” they allege.

 

The gun fell from the waistband of Mazza’s pants during a back-and-forth battle with a police officer listed only as CW-1, or Complaining Witness 1, in court papers.  The altercation occurred on the West Front Terrace at about 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 6.

 

According to the Law & Crime website, 

Mazza’s Facebook page contains a litany of pro-Donald Trump images, anti-abortion rhetoric, pro-military messages, and other conservative talking points — including suggests [sic] that Ivermectin is an appropriate COVID-19 treatment and complaints about the validity of the 2020 election.

 

(That Facebook page has now been deleted.) 

T, S, V

  

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557. Lewis Cantwell: Mr. Cantwell, 35, a resident of Sylva, North Carolina was arrested and charged with six crimes, including two felonies, one carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison, another a penalty of up to twenty years behind bars, related to his role in the Jan. 6 riot.

 

According to the Smoky Mountain News, Cantwell claims he rode to D.C. with friends, who wanted to attend the Trump rally, but denied he attended the rally himself. Allegedly, in a social media post, later deleted, he said he did attend, however, and in the wake of the violence attack, he was at pains to say President Trump “didn’t say a thing that could be alluded to as instigating it.”

 

Cantwell is a veteran, says he voted for Obama twice, despite being a registered Republican, and did a good deal of filming during the riot. As for who the rioters were, he made it clear. “People got mad when [P]ence didn’t do what they wanted, so Trump supporters stormed that building, not Antifa, not BLM, not undercover feds,” he said in one social media post. “That’s all garbage lies. I talked to people up front. Most were veterans and small business owners.”

 

In the wake of his arrest, negative publicity forced him to close down a pair of tea shops he owned and operated.

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)

 

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558. Robert Maurice Reeder: Mr. Reeder, 51, can be seen in videos from Jan. 6, shouting, “Fight for Trump.”

 

He’s a gentlemanly rioter. In a video he compiles, he can be heard at one point admonishing others inside the Capitol Building, “Do not destroy anything.”

 

Later, he reports,

 

Just left the Capitol, I was one of the last people out. I was in there for over half an hour. I got gassed several times inside the Capitol, many times outside the Capitol. Got shot with pepper balls. It was fucking nuts. We had to do...ah... battle with the Police inside. It was crazy...absolutely insane.

 

In March, Mr. Reeder agrees to plead guilty on one count, and agrees to pay a fine of $500, with a possible six months in jail. 

Interestingly enough, Reeder later says he is a registered Democrat, and did not support Trump, and describes himself as an “accidental tourist” who entered the U.S. Capitol almost by mistake. His defense lawyer, Robert Bonsib, “claimed that, Mr. Reeder is not politically active, is not and has never been a member of any right-wing or anti-government or extremist group and has, unfortunately, been publicly grouped with many others (whose) views he abhors.”

 

Bonsib continued, saying his client, “did not care much for President Trump, although he favored some of President Trump’s policies and he was not a strong supporter of his Democratic opponent in the election.”

 

Prosecutors, however, insist that Reeder “bragged” about his participation in the riot. A sentence of two years on probation has been suggested.

 

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)

 

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559. Josiah Kenyon: Like a good number of rioters charged for their roles on Jan. 6, Mr. Kenyon, of Winnemucca, Nevada is represented in court by a public defender. Kenyon allegedly showed up for the riot wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a “Jack Skellington” costume, based on a character from the movie, “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

 

Arrested only in December, Kenyon faces several serious charges, including assault with a deadly weapon after prosecutors say he used a table leg with a protruding nail to strike several police officers, including one who was hit in the head. “The protruding nail appears to become momentarily stuck between the top of the officer’s face shield and helmet,” an F.B.I. agent noted in the charging document.

(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNCLEAR.)

 

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560. James Haffner: The South Dakota member of the Proud Boys, 53, was arrested in November, after a picture from August, in which he can be seen with “Stop the Steal” nutcase lawyer Sidney Powell, helped authorities identify him as a participant in the January 6 melee.

 

RW, S

 

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561. Robert Loehrke: Also arrested in November, Loehrke, 30, hails from Georgia; and he’s yet another member of the Proud Boys who allegedly helped lead the attack on Capitol Hill. One of the leaders of the mob, and among the first to breach police barricades, Loehrke could be heard shouting, “Don’t back down, patriots! … The whole ... world is watching. Stand ... up!”

 

(The Washington Post has removed the expletives from his call for action.)

 

RW

 

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562. Tim Levon Boughner: Boughner, 41, of Romeo, Michigan is a recent addition to the list of arrestees.

 

Prosecutors allege video shows him among a mob spraying officers who were attempting to secure the Capitol building and that he referred to this in a social media post later that day saying he had “f---- those cops up.”

 

On Feb. 17, he allegedly posted, “My life has not been the same since this day … I still don’t know how I ended up on the capital steps having a pepper spray fight with the capital police.”

 

Arrested on December 9, he is said to have been identified, in part, because of “a distinctive star-shaped tattoo near his right wrist.” 

According to the Macomb Daily, 

Investigators amassed numerous other Facebook posts allegedly written by the suspect that show numerous comments supporting former President Donald Trump after the 2020 presidential election and stating he would be president for four more years, along with more screen shots from the video taken on Jan. 6.

 

T, V

 

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563. Thomas Paul Conover: As Raw Story notes, Mr. Conover, a resident of Texas, made the trek to D.C. and made it inside the Capitol Building, Coors Light beer in hand. He enjoyed strolling the halls – maybe shouting, “Hang Mike Pence,” or “Fuck Nancy,” and took photos of himself while holding his soon empty beer can. 

In a video he recorded that day, he can be heard saying how happy he was that he and other Trump supporters had such a sense of decorum. Somehow, he managed to caption his video in all capital letters, saying: 

“I PRAY TO GOD THAT NOBODY DOES ANY DAMAGE TO THE STUFF IN HERE, ‘CAUSE I’M NOT DOWN WITH THAT. BUT I’M KIND OF, KIND OF PROUD OF THE PEOPLE THAT STOOD UP AND SAID YOU KNOW WHAT? ENOUGH. YOU DON’T SEE PEOPLE SPRAY PAINTING S*** OR BURNING S*** DOWN. IT’S REALLY KIND OF COOL. I’M GLAD I CAME.”

 

“It’s really kind of cool,” he added. “I’m glad we came.” If convicted, he may decide it wasn’t so cool after all. 

T

 

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564. Jonas Buxton: The F.B.I. was tipped off by at least one of Mr. Buxton’s family members, who said he might have been armed with an AR-15 on the day of the Jan. 6 riot. Soon after the arrests began, Buxton “quit his job, disappeared, and went into hiding.” Buxton is a “Three Percenter,” so a right-wing type, and in court documents can be seen in a photograph, holding an automatic rifle, and garbed in a tactical vest, with a Trump-themed logo of some kind. quit his job, disappeared, and went into hiding.

 

I found it interestingly, to note that court documents also show Buxton and others in his group had been warned that D.C. laws regarding weapons were some of the strictest in the land. With that in mind

 

we need to be entirely unthreatening in our demeanor as well as our attire…and to remain in abeyance of local laws, the wearing of combat uniforms, body armor, tactical vests, helmets, or any other “battle rattle” is prohibited. We are not going there to fight; we are going there to peacefully protest.

 

Apparently, Buxton wasn’t entirely convinced. According to charging document in his case, he can be seen in surveillance cameras that day,

 

wearing a black in color gas mask, black in color jacket with hood, brown tactical vest with a patch in the center of the chest, and brown pants with tan boots. As Buxton continued to move through the interior of the Capitol building, surveillance images later showed Buxton without the gas mask which revealed the presence of a red neck gaiter. Buxton was also seen carrying a yellow flag which helped identify him as he moved throughout the Capitol.

 

The young man from Missouri is not charged with any violence and faces two misdemeanor charges.

 

T, RW