__________
“The only person I have ever known who was wholly indifferent in the choice between truth and falsehood.”
Gen. Winfield Scott, referring to Gen. Gideon Pillow.
__________
(Rioters #801-874.)
 |
The rioters knew who called on them to act: This guy. |
ONCE AGAIN, we pick up the trail of the January 6 rioters, as we try to come to grips with what motivated them and what kind of danger they and their leaders, including the Orange God of Mar-a-Lago, represent to this day.
Our work continues in the shadow of Donald Trump’s latest comments regarding the riot. We know that Thomas Webster (#222 on our list) was just sentenced to ten years in prison for violent assaults on three police officers. We know that a lawyer for the right-wing Oath Keepers (#845 below) has been charged with participating in the attack herself, and then suggesting clients hide or destroy evidence.
And we know what the former president, a man in the mold of Gen. Gideon Pillow, promised recently. If he runs again for president and wins, he will pardon the January 6 rioters. Not only that he will offer a government apology.
So let’s look at a fresh batch of rioters, from the recently arrested, to the recently convicted and sentenced.
A jarring number were advocates
of violence – and the groups they belonged to, and the ideas they espoused have
not disappeared. These are men and women who believe that they will have to kill
other Americans to save America.
*
True, individually, but not in the aggregate.
801. Benjamin H. Torre: Ben, 23, is not one of the most dangerous rioters, perhaps not dangerous at all – not by himself. He drove from Dawsonville, Georgia to Washington D.C. in company with his parents. Soon after the attack, he was turned in by tipsters, and when interviewed by F.B.I. agents admitted that the family wanted to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally that fateful morning.
He was one of the first to breach the Capitol Building, climbing through a broken window, but he is not accused of committing any violence. He did admit that “things got a little heated” that day.
Ironically, he says he talked to police officers that day. “We are here in support of you and we back the blue,” he told them. He also told the agents who interviewed him that he was following Trump’s instructions to “peacefully march to the Capitol.”
The problem being that if Torre was thinking “peacefully,” many in what quickly
devolved into a mob had violent intent. Torre was arrested soon after the attack, and bond was set
at $20,000.
Torre was never charged with assault, and if you were a Trump supporter you might argue that people like Torre, and Mr. and Mrs. Clark below, and even Mr. Spigelmyer, also below, weren’t all that dangerous. That is true, individually, but not in the aggregate – and not when they answered Donald Trump’s authoritarian call. Spigelmyer was (and may still be) ready to burn the Capitol “to the ground.”
Young Ben was angry. Trump assured him, and millions of others, and repeated his claim day after day, that the election had been stolen. It had not. As cogs in a mob machine, everyone that day, who breached the halls of Congress was working toward a common goal. The machine, stopped and started by the president himself, was intended to hammer democracy into the ground.
Brian Christopher Mock (#805), and Brian Preller and his crew (#807-811), were far more dangerous than Torre.
And Torre’s parents, also Trump supporters, were in D.C., but not charged, and likely did no more than protest by walking to the Capitol that day.
Protest in itself is a
healthy sign in a democracy, and shows that people still enjoy their rights.
The problem is simple. Trump built the machine that went to work on January 6, smashing at the system of free and fair elections. The President of the United States devoted months of effort to convincing a sizeable portion of the American population that the election was stolen. He fueled the rage – gassed up the machine – and provided supporters justification for such an attack.
He spoke, not only to people like Torre and Torre’s parents, who might be good people at heart. He spoke to the worst elements of American society, on the right, and coaxed them to fight, like the Brownshirts in 1933.
In the end, young Ben Torre gets what a guy who did what he did deserved: 60 days on home confinement, 60 hours of community service, a fine of $1,113, and an order to pay $500 in restitution. He’ll be on probation for a year.
He made a mistake. His life need not be ruined. His mistake was listening to President Trump.
Trump supporter.
*
802. CHRISTY CLARK: Nice work, Mrs. Clark! You posted pictures on Facebook that indicated you were involved in the attack on Capitol Hill. Three tipsters turned you in to authorities. The F.B.I. began following the leads, and charged you, your husband, and Paul Spigelmyer (below) for various riot-related crimes.
All because you wanted to show off on social media.
At one point, inside the Capitol, Christy said she stopped to say a prayer, and that she was overwhelmed by emotion.
She’ll have the next two years on probation to pray
and try to stay out of trouble. She must also complete 60 hours of community
service, and hand over $500 in restitution.
Trump
supporter.
*
803. MATTHEW CLARK: In social media posts of his own, Mr. Clark sounded excited on the day of the riot. Allegedly, he wrote, “The National Mall around the Washington Monument is packed full of PATRIOTS.” In a second post, he noted proudly, “Capital Building has been breached!”
He earns the same sentence as his wife, Christy,
above.
Trump
supporter.
*
804. PAUL SPIGELMYER: Mr. Spiglemyer and his friends, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, drove from Lewistown, Pennsylvania to be in D.C. for the fun on Jan. 6.
To get a flavor of his
thinking, on social media he is said to have posted the following comments:
“What
happened at the capital yesterday should and must continue till this election
fraud is stopped”
“My view
of the capital is, burn it to the ground”
“I am
all for more protest and storming the capital building and I would love to see
them burn it to the ground”
“The
capital building needs to be burnt down it doesn’t belong to the people that
work there.”
Someone should clearly take any matches Mr. Spigelmyer might have away. He gets sentenced to 45 days of home detention, two years’ probation, community service and restitution.
Trump
supporter, he believed the election was stolen.
*
An angry American, who
imagined himself a Patriot.
805. BRIAN CHRISTOPHER MOCK: If Mr. Torre wasn’t a threat by himself, and Mr. Spigelmyer wasn’t a threat, until fired up by President Trump, Mr. Mock is a serious problem, and a fight for the “soul of America” has begun.
Yep. Ask President Biden.
Mock was charged with eight crimes related to the riot, not least of which was assaulting an officer of the law. He stood accused of knocking one Capitol Hill policeman to the ground, and kicking him, while another rioter held the policeman’s leg.
Moments later, Mock could be seen screaming at a line of police attempting to restrain the mob, “Get out! Go!”
By 2:34 p.m., he had knocked a second officer to the ground. Mock is seen here:
Mock then grabs “multiple police shields” and hands them back to other members of the mob.
Authorities say the defendant traveled to D.C. with a girlfriend (unnamed in documents, her face obscured in photos from that day). She posted proudly on social media, after the riot: “Teargassed 6 times, pepper sprayed, and mustard gassed at the end. But we stayed true to being Patriots, marched to the Capital and stormed the Frontline … no regrets … ashamed of the blue that harmed everyone there to stand for a cause.”
Sadly Mock and his girl and countless others believed what they said. When a Facebook friend attacked them for their participation, and called what happened a “shit show,” Brian responded angrily. “It wasn’t going to be a shit show there Sparky. A shit show is when people like you went and voted and think you are actually doing something. You actually believe you are free and have choices. That’s the shit show.”
Mock was an angry American – who imagined himself a freedom-loving “Patriot” – one who was ready to fight and die – which might be fine. Except that he was ready to kill those of us with whom he disagreed.
“Listen, Sparky,” you want to say to people like Mock, “it was a shit show, and you were duped by the Shithead-in-Chief. Your vote did count. So did mine. My side just happened to have seven million more votes.
Better luck in the November midterms [I wrote in my original post on Mock]. If your side can elect a bonehead like Herschel Walker, go ahead.
“That’s how elections work.”
(As we now know, the GOP couldn’t elect
Walker.)
Also, you want to ask, “Mr. Mock, you are talking civil war. So you consider yourself a ‘Patriot’ (always capitalized by folks on the right), if you kill other Americans, to save “your country?”
In a lengthy post soon after the riot, Mock justified what he had done:
This was not the war we wanted. We were content
to live our lives in peace…but when
thrust upon us we will fight with the ferocity and righteousness of a thousand
angels that we and our children might live that life of peace and prosperity
that we sought out originally. Please call me mad. Make fun of me. I believe it
is madness to look around at all that is happening and to sit idly by while our
country, our lives, our future and the future of our children is ripped out
from under us. … when your children and grandchildren ask what you did in 2021
to save this country, [will you] tell them I sat on my couch in fear,
compliant, wearing a mask, watching TV and mocking the Patriots on social media
because I was brainwashed by the Left and Mainstream media? … We aren’t mad …
we are painfully aware. Fight back, support those who do, get the hell out of
the way or prepare to defend yourself. There has been a storm brewing and it
will sweep through this country very soon. Sic Semper Tyrranis!
Our worst enemies around the globe must relish this kind of thinking. If Americans like Mock will set upon Americans like me, who know the election wasn’t stolen, won’t they sit back and enjoy the carnage.
And can we point out here, that anger over masks hardly seems like it would merit wholesale warfare.
Or
over vaccines! See #806, below.
UPDATE: At his trial in June 2023, Mr. Mock acts as his own attorney. At one point, prosecutors introduce a message his son, A.J. sent him, soon after the insurrection on Capitol Hill:
“What you guys
did today was treason and a homeland security threat ... Everyone there should
be locked up for the rest of their lives, including you,” wrote A.J. Mock in
one text message that prosecutors showed at trial. “You STORMED THE F---ING
CAPITOL.” He asked his father “what the hell” made him think “that was a good
idea?” And he was, according to the report, “one of several tipsters who turned
him into the FBI after the Capitol attack.”
Testifying in person, A.J. said he loved his father and hoped he wouldn’t be sent to prison. But dad had been like a broken record after the 2020 election (like the Orange God of Mar-a-Lago, I should add).
At one point the elder Mock tried to elicit testimony from his son, regarding his sexual orientation. The judge ruled the question out of bounds. A.J. said his father had asked if he would lie on the stand to protect him.
He had said no.
His father later responded, “You know I’m proud of you, right? And you know I love you, right?” to which his son answered yes.
On July 12, the gavel falls. Mock is convicted on all charges and will soon be headed for prison.
It is the 981st day since the 2020 election. And still no proof in any court that victory was stolen by Team Biden.
(Scott MacFarlane notes that Mock had a prior conviction and had, in 2010, directed a gun at three kids.)
The end of Mr. Mock’s journey through the courts comes on February 23, 2024, and his journey through the federal prison system commences soon. A judge today sentenced him to 33 months behind bars.
Following his release, he will spend two more years on probation, and he owes the U.S. government $2,700 for his crimes.
(In an interview, outside the court, after sentencing, Mr. Mock says he would not have driven a thousand miles to D.C. to complain just because his guy lost. But public officials said the election was stolen and he considered it his duty to protest, as a result. He would like those officials to be held accountable if what they had said about the election was not true.)
Trump supporter, violent, believed election was stolen.
*
Employed by Infowars.
806. Samuel Christopher Montoya: Mr. Montoya’s bill for the January 6 riot comes to five federal charges lodged against him. (None involve violence.) He was turned in by a family member, who mentioned that Montoya was employed by Infowars, Alex Jones’ right-wing radio show.
In a video he allegedly shot on Jan. 6, titled, “Patriots Storm Congress Raw Footage Includes Execution of Ashli Babbitt,” Montoya manages to capture himself (or “incriminate” himself if you prefer), clearly showing his face, while shouting, “It feels good to be in the Capitol baby!”
At other points, he can be heard, exclaiming, variously:
“We’re gonna crawl, we’re gonna climb. We’re
gonna do whatever it takes, we’re gonna do whatever it takes to MAGA. Here we
go, y’all. Here we go, y’all. Look at this, look at this. I don’t even know
what’s going on right now. I don’t wanna get shot, I’ll be honest, but I don’t
wanna lose my country. And that’s more important to me than – than getting
shot.”
“We have had enough! We’re not gonna take your
fucking vaccines! We’re not gonna take all your bullshit! The people are rising
up! Folks, I am now on the steps of the Capitol. Here we go! Here we go! Having
a good time!”
“We are in the Capitol, baby! Yeah!”
“We’re all being a little bit too rowdy for
sure.”
“Here we are in the US Capitol in Washington DC
in the Capitol building, it has officially been stormed by Trump supporters.
Again, the US Capitol building in Washington DC has officially been stormed by
Trump supporters. And here we are, taking our – the people’s house back!”
“I’m sure these officers are scared, but we’re
here, we’re here to just show that we’ve had enough. We’ve had enough.”
Oddly enough, Montoya, who clearly did his part to stir up the rest of the mob, appeared on right-wing media outlets in days following the attack. During his appearances he never failed to mention “agitators” from the Left, who he hinted had caused all the God-fearing MAGA Patriots to run amok.
In November 2022, he agreed to a plea deal, admitting to committing one misdemeanor, and could spend up to six months in jail.
As of this update (12/29/22): the blogger has uncovered:
0
members of Antifa, showing up in court records from the day of the attack on American democracy.
Trump supporter.
(CLAIMED HE SAW
ANTIFA.)
*
Plan B and the “Forty Fools.”
807-811. BRIAN PRELLER, JOHN EDWARD CROWLEY, JONATHAN ALAN ROCKHOLT, TYLER QUINTIN BENSCH and Benjamin Cole: On August 24, 2022, federal authorities bagged another bunch of left-wing, “law and order” hating, Antifa types who attacked the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021…
Ha, ha. Of course they didn’t.
They nailed five more “Three Percenters,” led by Jeremy Liggett, who ran in the Republican primary for a seat in Congress from Florida earlier in the year.
(Liggett has not yet been charged – but it would seem a matter of time. Recently, he posted on Facebook that the F.B.I. had carried out a search warrant at his home.)
The five defendants named above wore “Guardians of Freedom” logos on their clothes during the attack, and referred to themselves as members of the “B Squad.” According to federal authorities, “Plan B,” referred to “an alternate plan to be in place if they do not get the desired electoral outcome (i.e., the former president remaining in power).” According to ABC News, they were part of a much larger group that gathered in D.C., knowing that Trump wanted them there and that it would be “wild.”
ABC explains:
Liggett was also
in Washington on Jan. 6 and coordinated the militia members’ travel to the
city, according to the [criminal] complaint. The complaint states that he
reserved a block of rooms in a Washington hotel and that “approximately forty
other members of B Squad stayed on the same floor of that hotel on January 5,
2021.”
Yeah. You read that right. There were 40 of these fools. In their minds they were answering the call of freedom – from a leader happy to lie to them, and to tens of millions of other Americans. Donald J. Trump had convinced these men that the election was stolen. It wasn’t.
Bill Barr, his attorney general, had told the president that in December 2020, and told him more than once.
After Barr resigned, rather than continue to help Trump push the lie, his replacement, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, and his two top aides, all Trump appointees, also informed Mr. Trump that the election was not stolen. But the word never got to members of the “B Squad.”
Or if it did, they refused to listen. So, on January 6, the five members indicted (so far) took part in a violent attack, battering police lines in a tunnel leading into the Capitol. ABC continues:
“While inside The Tunnel, Cole, Preller, Crowley, and Rockholt
confronted and assisted the crowd in confronting the police officers that were
preventing The Tunnel and the Capitol from being breached,” the FBI said in its
affidavit. “Specifically, while inside The Tunnel, Cole, Preller, Crowley, and
Rockholt added their force, momentum, bodies, and efforts to the other rioters
in a ‘heave-ho’ effort. This put intense aggregate pressure on the police line
in front of the rioters.”
Rockholt picked up a riot shield once police forced the mob
back, while Bensch – who faces only misdemeanor charges – used a chemical
irritant against a third party, according to the Justice Department.
If you care to study the affidavit charging the quintet, only Preller is named, and the names of others are redacted – but have since been revealed. Evidence also shows that the group sent out a flier, headlined: CALLING ALL PATRIOTS!! in bold, blood red. The “March for Trump Bus tour, powered by Women for America First,” would be “rolling into Washington D.C. to demand transparency and election integrity,” the flier explained. “The Guardians of Freedom III% are responding to the call from President Donald J. Trump [emphasis added.]” They would be traveling to D.C. to “protest the fraudulent election and re-establish liberty for our nation.”
“Join us,” they said. “We are ALL in this fight because we have seen the imminent destruction of our nation by the left as they control the people by muzzling them with masks, instilling fear, and forced into lockdown. This is about control.”
(These people really, really hate masks!)
The Plan B group also cited the Declaration of Independence, and warned, “You are witnessing the destruction of our Constitutional Republic our forefathers fought and died for 244 years ago.”
The flier suggested that you could also “donate to assist with our next critical mission” on January 6, 2021. A link was provided.
According to the F.B.I., “B Leader” (Liggett) was fired up and ready to bring some pain. He and the others would be coming “to support Trump,” to have their “voices heard,” and “we are going to have four more years of Trump, we all know that.” He warned those who planned to join the fight that once the sun went down in D.C. “things get a little bit violent.” He blamed “socialist, leftist, Marxist, communist agitators like Black Lives Matter and Antifa” folks. He suggested his allies be prepared. They should carry “defensive tools,” which might include “the strongest pepper spray commercially available to use, an ASP baton (i.e. an expandable metal baton), knives with blades that were 3 inches or less, a walking cane,” or “a taser.”
In fact, on January 6, when the B Squad joined the attack – on the police – they were armed with exactly the type of weapons Liggett suggested. According to the F.B.I. “the siege at the Tunnel lasted for two hours.” At least one of the five defendants wore a ball cap bearing a rifle logo and the words, “Pedophile Hunter.” Preller went with a green tactical helmet and bulletproof vest, and a blue shirt labeled “WATERBOARDING INSTRUCTOR.”
At one point, video from the riot captures one of the defendants as he turns and sprays another rioter, after the crowd begins shouting that that person was a member of “Antifa.” The man who did the spraying, was wearing a gas mask, carrying a radio of some kind, and had multiple cans of spray in a bulletproof vest. An employee at the hotel where the B Squad stayed, said they had taken twenty rooms, and when they headed out on January 6, he saw at least one carrying zip ties, with the likely intent of putting members of Congress – or Mike Pence – under arrest.
In July 2021, Preller told a male acquaintance that he was “building an army of 3% patriots” in hopes they could “overthrow the federal government.” In September he suggested in a social media post that he and his followers would never go to jail, no matter the cost. He also claimed that the “Flagler county [Florida] sheriffs is on our side 80/20. But I’m not ever seeing the inside of a cell brother. Ever.” In November, he told a “female acquaintance” that his divorce was almost finalized, and said it “tends to happen when the FBI shows up at your door.” When the female asked, “What dumb shit did you do now,” he replied, with the date, “January 6 2021” and noted that he still had the police “riot shield” one of the other defendants picked up that day.
Preller and at least one other member of the group also discussed various QAnon theories, sprinkled in anti-Islamic ideas, and referred to President Biden as “pedophile China Joe, fraud election.”
Jonathan Alan Rockholt agreed to a plea deal on April 11, 2023, and began cooperating in the trial against the others. He got a break, of sorts. On July 7, when he was sentenced to five months in prison, and five more on house arrest. He was also hit with a bill for $2,000 in restitution.
On the last day of May 2023, Cole also agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge.
Preller holds out a little longer, but cops to a felony on June 20, 2023. For some reason, he gets off easy at sentencing: Eight months of location monitoring, and a dose of community service. He must also complete five years of supervised release, and forfeit $2,000.
In July 2023, authorities announce that they will seek a term of nine months in prison for Mr. Bensch. “Bensch,” they tell the judge, “has shown little, if any, remorse... memes and other images minimizing or mocking the Capitol Riot have been posted to his Snapchat and Facebook accounts following January 6, 2021.”
Still, the judge cuts him a break. “You came ready for trouble,” he says, but rules that Bensch’s age and lack of previous criminal history should mitigate his punishment. Sixty days of home confinement – two years on probation.
A tearful Bensch did not speak during Friday’s sentencing
hearing, but his court-appointed attorney Peter Cooper said the Florida man
deeply regretted his actions. Bensch, Cooper said, “didn’t have the maturity to
understand what he was getting into” and “carries great remorse for what he did
that day.”
Cooper went on to say that Bensch hopes to start a career in law
enforcement, adding that it’s “not beyond the realm of possibility” that he
could do so even with his misdemeanors. Bensch is currently working for a pool
cleaning company, and the conditions of his sentence will allow him to leave
his home for employment during his 60 days of home detention.
We should also note that Bensch did not spray a police officer on January 6. After other rioters said they had an Antifa type in the crowed, Bensch sprayed the “Antifa” protester, instead. Which is exactly how NOT to stand up for freedom. I hope the victim can pursue legal redress him- or herself.
Finally, in October 2023, Crowley is found guilty of both felony and misdemeanor charges. The six defendants achieved nothing, and all have paid the price for believing in Donald Trump’s blatant lies.
In February 2024, he learns the price of his stupidity. He will spend eight months in jail, 36 on probation, and owes the U.S. government $7,000.
Trump “sent us,” ready for violence,
believed in a stolen election, QAnon (Preller)
Trump “sent us,” ready for violence, believed in a stolen election (Crowley)
Trump “sent us,” ready for violence, believed in a stolen election (Rockholt)
Trump “sent us,” ready for violence, believed in a stolen election (Bensch)
(THOUGHT HE SAW ANTIFA.)
Trump “sent us,” ready for violence, believed in a stolen election
(Cole)
 |
Bensch: ready to riot. |
*
812. Benjamin Martin: Mr. Martin faces a smorgasbord of charges for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Within hours of the riot, a tipster who attended high school with Martin had notified the F.B.I. to his presence during the battle. The tipster “stated that MARTIN had become increasingly political in his views on Facebook and as a result, the tipster decided to no longer follow MARTIN on Facebook.”
His or her significant other did and saw videos which seemed to show Martin involved in the attack.
Martin first told federal authorities that he had tried to calm the crowd, and said that any damage he saw was carried out by people who didn’t support Trump. That story fell apart, after video showed Martin trying to hold a door to the Capitol open as officers tried to seal it shut. Finally, a police officer whacked his hand with a baton. At another point, Martin yells at officers, “You guys are not doing your job. You swore an oath. You’re bound by your word. Move out of the way and let us in. Move out of the way and let us in.”
Evidence shows that Martin traveled to D.C. with a suspect identified only as “R.T.” That individual was “known to the FBI to have advocated for violence in the lead-up to January 6, organized others to travel to D.C. for January 6 (some of whom participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol), and to have participated himself.”
Mr. Martin would appear to be lying. When not attacking Congress, the defendant sells real estate in Clovis, California.
Trump supporter.
*
813. KENNETH D. MASSIE: It takes time, but Massie is identified later, in company with Jared Kastner (#586) and Luke Faulkner (#587 on our list), as they try to breach police lines during the attack.
When interviewed by federal authorities in December 2021, Massie admitted he was inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
He was staring at two misdemeanor charges, pled guilty to one, and was “awarded” 30 days of home confinement, two years on probation, and docked $500.
(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT KNOWN.)
*
“Question is, will you go gently?”
814. William Hendry Mellors: Mr. Mellors may have hoped to avoid arrest after eighteen months had passed before the F.B.I. came knocking. As early as April 2021, however, an image had appeared which showed a man, believed to be Mellors, spraying police with bear spray on January 6. As has often been true, a bit of distinctive clothing helped authorities track him down, in his case, a yellow and black checked scarf Mellors allegedly wore to the riot.
Also, a backpack with these distinctive patches:
(In Mellors’ case, I learned for the first time that bear spray can be used at longer range than the mace that police officers fire. Who knew!)
Authorities also believe Mellors created the Parler account, FAAFO512 (Fuck around and find out), and that he posted this: “Took a nice beat down from Washington DC police tonight. Some tear gas and a riot baton. Broken ribs and some stitches needed. But nothing compared to Ashli Babbit [sic] who was murdered by Police. RIP, you deserved better from the country you served!”
Babbitt did, indeed. She deserved a president who didn’t lie about losing the election. She deserved leaders who didn’t spread QAnon hocus pocus. As for Mellors, photos appear to place him at Proud Boys rallies in Texas.
In another social media post, Mellors responds to this statement by another member of the Proud Boys:
Understand, this is not an
attack against Donald Trump or the GOP. This is an all out assault on Patriots.
Trump was a shield during his administration, a shield that will soon be gone.
Now with no one to protect you, all Patriots will have to learn to protect
themselves. It is on us now, and believe us when we tell you, the communists
will give no quarter. You Patriots better wake up and see what is happening, or
just STFU and be sheep. Either way you will be a target of the commies.
Question is, will you go gently???
FAFO512 replies: “They’ll have to take me out on a gurney. I will protect my family and what’s rightfully mine.
Mellors now faces four charges, included felony assault.
Right-winger, ready for violence.
*
“If biden [sic] wins, civil war it shall be.”
815. LANDON MITCHELL: The arrest of Luke Wesley Bender (#469 on our list) in July 2021, led to evidence that showed Mitchell in action on January 6. Mitchell was described in the charging document as a “stocky white male.” When interviewed by federal agents, Bender admitted he and Mitchell entered the Capitol Building, and made it into the Senate chamber.
Like so many other rioters, Mitchell had come to believe the election was stolen. In fact, he was ready for civil war, if Joe Biden took office – just because he got the most votes. Typical social media posts under his name include:
At one point, not long after the January 6 attack, a friend told Mitchell that someone’s prayers must have been answered. That would explain why, so far, he had not been arrested.
Mitchell replied, “Lol yeah, thank God for giving me the foresight to keep my mask up.”
Despite such foresight, he had lowered his mask before the riot, been photographed, and soon faced charges.
In December 2022, he plead guilty and agreed to a set of stipulated facts, giving him five convictions, one for a felony.
Bender has done likewise.
During his sentencing hearing, Mitchell’s lawyer asked the judge for leniency. “He became caught up on the rhetoric and accusations flowing through Facebook,” and dripping daily from Trump’s own lips. (I, the blogger, added that last part – although the lawyer did fault Trump.)
Mitchell himself, tells the judge, “I am not an unintelligent man, so it embarrasses me to see how badly I fell victim to Facebook politics and the mad zealotry with which I followed Trump.”
He won’t be voting for Trump again in 2024 – that much is certain. He’ll be spending 27 months in prison, 36 additional months on probation, and writing a check for $2,000 in restitution.
Trump supporter, he believed the election was stolen.
*
“They use child pedophilia to control the masses.”
816. ANDREW JACKSON MORGAN JR.: Morgan is seen on video from the day of the riot, encouraging others to storm the building. “ I want my bullet and goin’ in my house…” he says at one point. “I want my bullet! Give me my bullet! Give me my tear gas,” he says. As the battle to force a way inside erupts, he yells that more people are needed to drive cops back. “Send helmets forward” he says, “fresh people – fresh people, are we in?” he asks.
Apparently, he has a YouTube channel, ”Political Trance Tribune,” and even managed to snag press credentials, before joining the assault.
According to federal agents, when interviewed, Morgan made it clear he believes the U.S. government has been hijacked. He expressed concern because Mike Lindell’s videos about election fraud had been banned. He believes in QAnon and “has come to realize that the people in power keep power through child pedophilia. They use child pedophilia to control the masses.”
That doesn’t even make sense. The more realistic explanation is this. Some segments of “the masses” are incredibly gullible and dense.
In fact, as of June 1, 2023, Morgan is a convicted criminal. He agrees to plead guilty to charges related to his rioting fun.
In September, the gavel comes down with a bang: 110 days
of incarceration, 365 days on probation, and a $500 fine.
Trump supporter,
he believed the
election was stolen, QAnon.
*
817. IRAJ JAVID: The 31-year-old has the distinction (so far) of being the first rioter turned in by his boss.
What, did he call in sick to join the mob?
The IT tech faced four charges, with cell phone data (again) helping place him inside the building. He had his own LinkedIn page if you’d like to visit. In his “About” statement, he describes his background:
What a blessing
it has been to have worked for WMATA for 8 years and learn multiple network
systems. TheRWIC (roadway worker in charge) program WMATA offers helps to teach
leadership. Outside of WMATA I have been blessed to be mentored by a multitude
of successful entrepreneurs who continue to teach me financial management,
leadership skills and team building. My father who owns Next Day carpet has
taught me much in the business world.
Sadly, he promptly lost his job, after he was arrested, and in August 2022, he agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors asked the judge in his case to impose a 21-day prison sentence. Javid’s family asked for mercy, noting that he had already paid a high price, having been fired from work.
In the end: Javid gets 90 days on house arrest, a chance to learn about the probation system for two years, and a bill for $500.
(POLITICAL AFFILIATION
UNKNOWN.)
*
818. THOMAS UBERTO: According to federal authorities, Uberto was wearing what appeared to be a “Stop the Steal” sweatshirt when he entered the Capitol Building. He spent only a few minutes inside – just long enough to be charged with a quartet of federal offenses.
Where did this guy stand on the political spectrum? At first, I wasn’t sure. But as the court fights heated up, we learned that five months after the riot, Uberto posted a message on a member of Congress’s Facebook page. “Thank You For standing up to AOC and the criminals in DC. We support You 100%. Thank You for Supporting President Trump as We All know He won in a landslide and the DC swamp rigged the Election. The truth will come out for all to see.”
He added three smiley face emojis.
He has since pled guilty to one misdemeanor and earned a chance to spend 10 days behind bars, and hand over $500 to the federal government, by way of restitution.
Trump
supporter, he believed the election was stolen.
*
819. KATHARINE MORRISON: The Dansville, New York woman was indicted along with two other defendants (# 820 and 821, below), on a variety of charges in August 2021. She was caught in multiple pictures and video from that deadly day, wearing a grey-green helmet.
According to local news, a search of her home “turned up her jacket, her boots, [similar to those worn during the January 6 attack] and multiple iPhones, tablets and laptops which investigators say could have information about where she went, what she did and pictures she took.”
(In October 2022, she pleads guilty to one felony count of obstruction and in May 2023, she learns her fate. She’ll be sitting in jail until early 2024 (eight months behind bars), and then she’ll be on probation for two years.
She must also pay $2,000.
Trump supporter.
*
820. DALE JEREMIAH SHALVEY: Dale wash hit with eleven charges, more than his friend Morrison, above, or his wife, below. These included theft of a letter from Sen. Mitt Romney to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as assaulting members of law enforcement.
Dale made it as far, during the mob attack, as the Senate chamber, where he was seen looking at documents on a desk, and commenting that Ted Cruz was “going to sell us out all along” by objecting to the counting of the Arizona electoral votes. Another member of the mob corrected him, saying, “No that’s a good thing.”
Shalvey admitted he was “mixed up.”
Which goes without saying. He was part of a mob attack on the seat of democracy, in support of a conscienceless president.
He agrees to plead guilty to two felony charges in October 2022, and the following May, he gets hammered by the judge. (So does his wife, below.) He will be spending 41 months in prison, paying $2,000 in restitution, and will remain on probation for two additional years.
As for the idea (still current in Trumpish circles) that these rioters were peaceful folk, and real patriots, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly makes it clear. He disagrees:
Police body-cam footage shows Dale Shalvey throwing an
unidentified object at officers outside the Capitol. Later recordings show him
finding and passing out zip-ties while banging on doors throughout the building
and chanting, “defend the Constitution, defend our liberty.”
Kelly highlighted this moment specifically regarding the
severity of Dale Shalvey’s crimes, contrasting his intentions against those of
his wife and their friend, Katharine Morrison, who also was sentenced Thursday.
“It’s chilling for me to think what was going
through his mind when he found them,” Kelly said.
And we should note here: Judge Kelly was nominated for post on June 7, 2017, by Donald J. Trump.
BLOGGER’S NOTE (5/12/23): Just two days before Shalvey’s sentence came down, Trump said during a CNN “Townhall Meeting,” that January 6, 2021, was “a beautiful day.” He said if he were elected president again he’d seriously consider pardoning many of the rioters. He even insisted that Vice President Mike Pence was never in danger – although people like Shalvey would have been happy to use those zip ties (and maybe even a noose) if they could have caught him.
Trump supporter.
*
821. TARA AILENE STOTTLEMYER (a.k.a. Tara Ailene Shalvey): Mrs. Shalvey won’t be seeing much of her new husband, after Dale (see above) got nailed on eleven charges for his participation in the Jan. 6 riot, and plead guilty to two.
She herself was charged with six crimes.
The happy, indicted couple recently moved to a farm near Conover, North Carolina.
Video evidence placing Dale squarely inside the Capitol was clear. Evidence against his wife, and their friend, Morrison (#819) was also solid.
At least two women wearing helmets can be seen
near Shalvey in the video, although their faces are partially obscured by
sunglasses, and federal investigators have not released photographs or
surveillance video identifying Stottlemyer on the Senate floor.
According to court documents, Stottlemyer had
been using a prepaid “burner” cellphone since Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors asked
for her indictment to be sealed “to avoid Stottlemyer fleeing from prosecution”
before she could be arrested, court documents indicate.
Stottlemyer is charged with obstruction of an
official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or
grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
entering and remaining on a floor of Congress; disorderly conduct in a Capitol
building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Shalvey also faces those charges, along with additional counts of civil
disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain offices; theft of personal
property within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction; and two counts
of making false statements.
She pleads guilty to a single felony count in October 2022, and in May 2023 learns that she will be spending eight months behind bars.
She must also pay $2,000.
She and her husband married after the riot, and have an infant daughter together. It is always unfortunate for children to have a parent sent off to prison, more so when it’s both. So add that child to a list of victims of President Trump’s “stolen election” lies, which her parents, sadly, fell for.
The judge in her case
did at least agree to stagger sentences for husband and wife – so that childcare
will not be totally disrupted.
Trump supporter.
*
822. DANIEL MICHAEL MORRISSEY: Two people who worked with Morrissey tipped off authorities to his presence during the riot, which was well-documented in pictures and video. He can, for example, be seen at one point, chanting, “Stop the Steal!”
He soon found himself charged with four crimes, none involving violence, just stupidity, in that he listened to President Trump’s lies.
He has prior arrests for driving while impaired, and phone harassment. The Denver, Colorado man plead guilty in August 2022, garnered a 45-day prison sentence, and $3,000 in fines and restitution.
Trump supporter.
*
“We’ll do it again if we have to!”
823. JON THOMAS MOTT: Video evidence shows Mr. Mott, with swollen eyes, pouring water on the face of another rioter, after both were maced by police.
Once again social media posts helped authorities identify suspects and also provided insight into what these people (sadly) believed. Another alleged rioter posted in the wake of the attack:
I’m ok. We did it. JT [Mott] and I got separated for about 20 minutes
but I’ve made contact with him. He’s better than ok. I’m now trying to get us
the hell out of here. Good work patriots. Protecting pedophiles and denying
people freedom don’t fly here. The silent majority has spoken. Let his be a
lesson. We’ll do it again if we have to!
The day before the attack, Mott’s friend outlined his thinking as to why the pair were in D.C. On January 5, he posted, in part:
The first thing that I want to bring up is the DC residents. These poor
idiots have been beat into submission by BLM, Antifa, feminists, gender
confusion and their local government. …Are you freaking kidding me?!?! These
people don’t know up from down, where to piss or where the government gets
their money. THEY ARE CONFUSED AND CONTROLLED! … But there are some people that
are here in big groups with plated vests and forms of protection that carry a
pretty cold vibe. I personally met one of the leaders of the Three Percenters.
… It felt good to be with all of the good
people in the crowd but we did spot some suspicious characters amongst
us. JT and I both have families to look after so don’t expect us to go
straight for blood [emphasis added]. … Overall it was an incredible day
with lots of excitement and exploring. … The last thing I want to say is thank
you again to everyone that has helped sponsor our trip. It’s truly heartwarming
to see the support for our country and our protest against the corruption. …
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as tomorrow will be the
“big day.”
A tattoo on Mott’s left ring finger helped prove he was inside the Capitol, doing what he believed was some kind of patriotic sh*t. Fortunately, you might say, Mott does not appear to have been involved in any January 6 violence, and therefore faces only four federal charges.
In November 2022, he agrees to plead guilty to one, a misdemeanor, which is relatively good news for him.
His punishment is handed down on April 26, 2023: Thirty days in the slammer, $500 in restitution, and three years’ of reporting to his probation officer.
Trump supporter.
*
824. CHRISTOPHER PATRICK MOYNIHAN: “Detective” Moynihan no doubt saw himself as doing the hard work of a true patriot, when he showed up for the riot with a cellphone and a happy willingness to chant.
On August 23, 2022, however, he was found guilty of obstruction of an official act, and plead guilty to five other related charges. The defendant admitted he had “observed rioters attacking Capitol Police officers,” but did not engage in violence himself. He admitted that by 2:40 p.m. that day, he had already entered the building.
In nine minutes, he reached the Senate floor, where his “detective work” began. According to court records, “At one point, Moynihan paged through a notebook on top of a Senator’s desk, taking out papers, and taking pictures with his cellphone. While looking through the papers, Moynihan said, ‘There’s gotta be something in here we can fucking use against these scumbags.’”
He wanted to stop the steal – which was never a steal – and he, like so many other rioters that day, fell for President Trump’s lies.
And he paid high.
On
February 2, 2023, he was sentenced to 21 months behind bars, fined $2,000, and ordered to
complete an additional three years on probation.
Trump supporter.
*
“#MAGA2020.”
825. JONATHAN J. MUNAFO: A video from January 6 captured Munafo, wearing a black hooded jacket striking a USCP officer twice in the head and body with a closed fist before violently ripping the officer’s shield out of his hands. Once he took it off the officer’s hands, he “passed the riot shield back to others in the crowd behind him.”
Munafo later attempted to use a flagpole to break a window and allow others into the building. At some point he made the “top ten most wanted Capitol Violence” list from the day of the riot.
Munafo’s Twitter account includes a picture of himself posed at a Trump rally, and he camped out at pro-Trump rally sites so often, in order t get good views, he became known as “Front Row Joe.” On June 16, 2020, for example, he posted a six-second clip, panning from the railing to the podium where the Orange God of Mar-a-Lago stood, titling it “BEST SPOT IN THE HOUSE! #MAGA2020.”
His Twitter account didn’t get much use, but Munafo did engage with a critic on May 8, 2020, warning: “You’re exhibiting symptoms closely associated with Trump derangement syndrome. I genuinely wish you luck in dealing with another ‘emotional’ 4 years of PRESIDENT TRUMP!”
In October 2022, he pleads guilty and gets sentenced to two years in prison for threatening 911 workers, in an incident unrelated. In April 2023, Munafo pleads guilty to assault for his part in the attack on democracy.
In “bonus” criminality, Munafo appears to have had some aspirations of assassinating Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
FUN FACT: As of September 2023, Munafo has already spent 29 months in jail, based on evidence that he is a threat to society. He catches a break when the judge in his case gives him credit for time served, including the time in Michigan, sentencing him to 33 months, or four more to go.
We should also note that Munafo enjoyed the services of a public defender – so, your tax dollars at work!
(Munafo does owe $2,000 in restitution, so that will help trim the federal deficit a bit.)
Trump supporter, violent.
*
826. JEFFREY L. MUNGER: There are several lessons from the January 6 debacle to take for future rioters. Don’t wear distinctive clothing, which will make you easier to pick out of a mob. Don’t wear stripes. They’ll make you look fat. Mask up, but never to guard against COVID – because COVID is a hoax – but to make yourself hard to identify later, by police.
And don’t bring your damn phone!
Munger’s phone pinged off cell towers that showed he was inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
When interviewed by federal authorities in December 2021, the 55-year-old Goshen, Indiana man admitted his crimes. He allowed an F.B.I. agent to photograph the same coat and hat he wore that day. In May 2022, the poor sap plead guilty to one charge, and another was dropped. In court, he said he drove to D.C. to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. His lawyer in the case, Heather Shaner, called her client, “a wonderful man who made a mistake he deeply regrets.”
His terrible mistake costs him $500 in restitution, an order to complete sixty hours of community service, and a chance to spend three years on probation – and try not to be a bonehead again.
Trump supporter.
*
Take your AR-15 to D.C. because it’s going to be “wild.”
827. Rocky Hardie: Hardie earns a number on the list, even though he has not yet been charged.
He will be.
For now, as part of a plea agreement, Hardy has testified in the trial of Guy Reffitt (#140 on our list). During their 20-hour-long drive, from Texas to D.C., to attend the January 2021 Trump rally, the two men asked themselves, “How far do you let things go before you take action to protect your country?” They agreed, Hardie said, that “the country was pretty much going down the tubes” and believed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “pretty much evil incarnate.”
Reffitt was a leader in the Three Percenters’ movement, and when Hardie met him, he was impressed. “A lot of people in life, they talk but don’t do,” Hardie said. “He seemed like a person who would do.”
So, off to D.C. they went! Because, as the president had told everyone, it was going to be “wild.” The two Texans each brought body armor, Hardie testified, an AR-15, and a handgun, even though they knew it was illegal to carry firearms in the District of Columbia.
“Better to be tried by 12 than carried
by six,” Hardie said they told each other.
“We talked about the need for corrupt
people to be removed and replaced by people who were not corrupt,” Hardie said,
adding Reffitt told him legislators “need to be dragged out and replaced by
people who are patriotic to the country [emphasis added].”
Importantly for the government’s case,
Hardie said Reffitt was wearing a handgun in a holster on his hip when they
went to the rally on Jan. 6. He said Reffitt helped duct tape an armored plate
to his chest and handed him zip ties before they left. The zip ties, Reffitt
told him, were in case they needed to “detain” someone.
Hardie also confirmed
he received a message shown to jurors earlier from Reffitt encouraging other
Three Percenters to “purge all communications” after the riot.
So, how far would you go? This blogger would suggest going no farther than the next voting place.
And if your guy loses, go about your daily business, and don’t believe him when he says the election was rigged.
Trump
supporter, right-winger, ready for violence.
*
828. ANDREW CAVANAUGH: The Bozeman, Montana businessman made it clear on social media that he was headed to D.C. in time to arrive for the January 6, “Save America Rally,” hosted by President Trump. A former Marine, he had served in combat in Afghanistan, and believed the president’s lies about a stolen election.
The owner of “Tactical Citizen,” a firearms academy, has been charged with two crimes related to illegal entry into the Capitol Building. At his trial, he admitted that his experiences in D.C. had changed him more than his time in combat overseas. “I hope my country unifies again someday. I never thought while in the mountains of Afghanistan... that the people of my country would be so against each other [emphasis added],” he told the judge.
His punishment: 60 hours of community service, $500 in restitution and two years’
worth of visits to a probation officer.
Trump supporter.
*
829. Elias Costianes: In videos from the riot, Costianes is seen inside the Capitol, shouting, “Mitch McConnell’s a traitor.” He’s sporting typical January 6 headgear. In his case that means a stocking cap in red, white, and blue, with “Trump” and “45” in white labeling.
Video evidence appears to put him inside the Senate chamber, as well.
His legal problems become infinitely worse when, during a search of his home, evidence of drug use, sale and purchase of cocaine, and a stash of weapons turns up, an added violation if he is found to be an unlawful user of a controlled substance. On those charges alone, Mr. Costianes could be looking at thirty years in prison.
Poor Elias is listed, as so many rioters are, at American Gulag, a website which purportedly supports rioters in their legal battles, but which neglects to mention Costianes’ drug and weapons charges.
(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)
*
“Hope you enjoyed my special prizes.”
830. RICKY WILLDEN: Willden was originally charged with eight offenses, including two for acts of “physical violence.”
A self-professed member of the Proud Boys, Mr. Willden sprayed two police officers with chemical spray. Then he boasted about his deeds on social media. The cops “got the message,” he said, in particular “the cop who started this […] hope you enjoyed my special prizes.”
In April 2022, he plead guilty to one felony, and in August he was sentenced to two years in prison, three years on probation, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
As a right-wing rioter’s bonus, Willden is homophobic and misogynistic. In May 2021, he was also arrested on a state charge, in California, for felony assault.
Right-wing type.
*
831-832. Donald Chilcoat and Shawndale Chilcoat: As the months passed, the Celina, Ohio couple must have wondered. Were they going to slide by, despite having traveled all the way from Celina to D.C. to play their small part in a deadly riot? Not till August 11, 2022, were they finally arrested and charged with a battery of six federal offenses apiece.
Yet, the F.B.I. had been notified almost immediately, in the wake of the attack, that the pair might have taken part.
Court documents explain:
In January 2021, based on numerous online and telephonic tips, the
FBI initiated an investigation into allegations that SHAWNDALE CHILCOAT and
DONALD CHILCOAT were unlawfully present on restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on
January 6, 2021.
One tipster, W-1, submitted a tip that stated: “TRESPASSED
INTO CAPITOL: Shawndale Morgan Chilcoat ? Celina, Ohio. She has removed most of
the posts/videos of her inside the Capitol building on January 6 and
threatening violence if Biden is inagurated on January 20. Please see the
attached screenshots of what’s left on her Facebook.”
W-1 attached a screenshot of a Facebook post from “Shawndale
Morgan Chilcoat” that said: “OK so antifa is being blamed for breaking windows
and storming congress. Um no, it was us I was with them and couldn't be more
proud. Please stop giving them credit and realize trumps side has crazies too
and they should stew on that for awhile.”
Mrs. Chilcoat wasn’t just proud of what she and her husband had done. She wanted everyone to know, she was ready for violence. What happened on Jan. 6, “should be a warning to congress, just try it on the 20th and u wont have to worry about bidens day not having anyone show up!”
She was also a fan of QAnon.
In any case, even though she promptly deleted most social media posts, she had left enough of a trail to eventually lead to her and her husband’s arrests.
UPDATE: In September 2023, the couple turns down a
plea deal; and we learn that they are representing themselves in court.
Trump supporter (Donald).
Trump supporter, QAnon, believed election was stolen
(Shawndale).
*
833. JAMES ROBINSON: On May 3, 2022, Mr. Robinson was interviewed by F.B.I. agents and admitted he had entered the Capitol Building during the attack. He explained his presence, generally, saying that he had attended Trump’s rally on January 6, and when the crowd began moving toward the Capitol, he decided to go for a stroll. Eight or nine blocks from the building, he stopped to eat some food he brought, and became separated from several friends – all Trump supporters.
ROBINSON stated he could hear people screaming and crying for help near the Capitol. According to ROBINSON his training in marital arts had taught him that when people need assistance, he should do what he could to help. ROBINSON remembers going to the Capitol building and up a set of stairs where he got sucked into a large group of people who were trying to gain access into the Capitol through doors in a large archway. ROBINSON stated he entered the Capitol into a room he described as not the main Rotunda but possibly one of the smaller rooms next to it. ROBINSON understood that he was not supposed to be making entry into the Capitol but felt he could help people who were crying out.
At one point, Robinson removed a velvet rope from two stanchions, the kind of rope used to hold back tourists, and waved it over his head like a battle trophy. But there is no sign he took it home.
So: he was facing only two misdemeanors, mostly because it seemed he was just a dope.
On May 9, 2023, Robinson catches a major break. The judge sentences him to six months in prison, and fines him $1,000. (Robinson, by the way, availed himself of the services of a public defender.)
It turns out, video evidence showing Robinson punching a police officer in the head on January 6, 2021 turned up too late to be used against him. Otherwise he’d be spending a much longer sentence in prison.
Trump supporter.
*
834. SAMUEL FONTANEZ RODRIGUEZ: Rodriguez’s trip to court began when his picture showed up in videos posted during the riot by a friend (Jackson Kostolsky, #482 on our list.) A search warrant soon showed that a phone registered in Rodriguez’s name had been present inside the Capitol.
Interviewed by federal authorities, Mr. Rodriguez admitted he had been inside the Capitol, starting at around 2:15 p.m. Records indicate he hailed an Uber and left around 2:43. He even showed F.B.I. agents a pair of tan boots he said he had worn during the riot. In one picture he took during his trip to D.C., he and Kostolsky reenact the death of George Floyd in front of a “Black Lives Matter” sign, with Rodriguez doing the “honors” of playing the killer cop.
Sentence: $500, community service, and a year on probation.
Trump supporter.
*
“I honestly want to kill all nigger lovers.”
835. BRANDON CAVANAUGH: We don’t need to look hard to understand the motivation that brought Mr. Cavanaugh to D.C. on January 6. He’s a right-wing, racist creep. According to court documents he was identified after his alleged participation in the riot was revealed during a search of another suspect’s phone.
Federal authorities explain:
In March
and July 2021, a Telegram user with UID 1560453572 expressed a desire to kill
black people. The Telegram user with UID 1560453572 was saved in the contact
list as “Brandon HB Groyper.” On March 7, 2021, “Brandon HB Groyper” wrote, “I
honestly want to kill all nigger lovers / Ruthlessly cut their chest open / Rip
out their hearts / And eat it.” On July 30, 2021, “Brandon HB Groyper” wrote,
“I am done with words I want blood hahah man only in my dreams would I ever get
this much satisfaction. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.”
I know
based on my training and experience that the term “Groyper” refers to being a
member of the America First movement. Groypers believe they are defending
against the demographic and cultural changes that are destroying the “true
America,” a white, Christian nation. Groypers attempt to normalize their
ideology by aligning themselves with “Christianity” and “traditional” values,
such as marriage and family. Groypers identify themselves as American
Nationalists who are a part of the “America First” movement.
Cavanaugh is summed up perfectly in a story by USA Today:
The FBI identified Cavanaugh through racist,
murderous messages he posted in a Telegram chat that agents found while
searching another Capitol riot suspect’s phone, according to court records. He
used the name “Brandon HB Groyper.” The FBI defines Groyper as a term used for
members of the America First movement, who believe they are defending against
changes they think are destroying the “true America.” Carrying an America First
flag, Cavanaugh was inside the Capitol for about 13 minutes, the FBI stated. His
LinkedIn page states he’s an aerospace engineer who worked as a chemical
propulsion and fluid flight systems engineering intern at NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory during the summer of 2019.
In April 2023, Cavanaugh takes a plea deal, gets sentenced to 14 days in jail, two years on probation, and fined $500.
Trump supporter, right-wing type, ready for
violence.
*
836. Joshua Knowles: Mr. Knowles traveled from Arizona to D.C., to get in on the Jan. 6 fun – and ended up getting nailed for violating curfew after the attack was ended.
Authorities did a little checking, and soon found evidence that Knowles had been inside the Capitol Building.
He originally faced four charges. In March 2024, he pled guilty to one. At one point, a right-wing group was working hard to find jobs for January 6 defendants (called “political prisoners” by the group), but I can be sure if Mr. Knowles benefitted.
(It would also appear that Knowles has spent time in jail before – 18 months related to selling drugs.)
(LIKELY TRUMP
SUPPORTER; NOT DEFINITIVE.)
*
Nana goes to “big person’s time out.”
837. MARSHA MURPHY: The Arizona woman was arrested for a curfew violation, after she refused to leave Capitol grounds. Police spoke to her at 7:15 p.m., on the evening of the riot, with a curfew having been in effect since 6:00 p.m. When she refused to leave, after two warnings, another Trump fan ended up under arrest.
She and her husband own Amer-I-CAN Ammo Enterprises, an ammunition store in Hinton, Oklahoma.
Marsha can be seen posed on Facebook in a Trump t-shirt.
Of course.
Her daughter, Crystal Garcia, told reporters she was ashamed of her mother’s actions. “My youngest son asked what was going on with his Nana,” Garcia told a reporter, “and I had to explain to him in a way that a seven-year-old could understand, that she now has to go to a big person’s time out because she didn’t listen to a police officer.”
She pled guilty and her case was handled through a diversion program. (Most of the curfew violators I have left off my list; but her stubbornness and love for guns and ammo made “Nana” seem worth including.)
Trump supporter.
*
838. WESTON SOBOTKA: One problem for all these rioters, including those who just seemed to go along with the mob, is that almost all felt a need to brag about what they were doing on social media. Sobotka, for instance, texted from inside the Capitol that day: “I’m stormin the capital (sic) haha.”
Haha, indeed.
He was arrested on August 24, 2022, and faced four federal charges. In April 2023, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail, ordered to perform community service, brush his teeth regularly, complete three years of probation, and fork over $500 in restitution.
(POLITICAL AFFILIATION UNKNOWN.)
*
839. Jonathan Joseph Copeland: The Ohio man was also arrested on August 24, but he faces eight charges, including two involving felonious assault. According to the “Statement of Facts” in his case, the F.B.I. was tipped by two witnesses who said they had seen Copeland on TV, during the attack. “Witness-1 further reported Copeland resided in a trailer park in Fort Shawnee, Ohio. Witness-1 described Copeland’s appearance to be 5’11 to 6 feet tall, 240 pounds, wears glasses and has a shaved head.”
Okay. Not svelte.
According to an agent who interviewed Copeland in February 2021, the defendant admitted he entered the Capitol:
Copeland went through an open door near where the news showed
a white male with a black coat breaking a window with the shield. Copeland said
he went through a circular room with a lot of statues and heard people
chanting. He joined in and there was a lot of energy with all of the people
inside. Copeland took a flight of stairs down to the commons area and saw a
standoff between police and people, where there was a large fight. Copeland ran
up the escalator, but then went back down the stairs to the commons area.
Copeland went back up the escalator to the statue room and saw police. The hall
was filled with smoke and tear gas, and it started to affect him. While inside,
Copeland said he received a phone call from the individual with whom he
traveled, who said, “Son, you know what you’re doing is a crime.” Copeland
retraced his path where he saw a police officer who directed him out exited
through a window. Copeland attempted to take a video while inside the U.S.
Capitol, but said he was unable to get cellular service. Copeland further said
he took his phone, associated with number XXX-XXX-3123, with him to and into
the U.S. Capitol. Copeland told FBI Agents that he felt remorseful, upon
leaving the U.S. Capitol, so he deleted his accounts and disposed of his
cellphone. Copeland advised he was wearing the same pants and boots during the
interview that he had worn while he was inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
As you might suspect, Copeland also appears to have joined in assault on a news cameraman, and can be seen among the first rioters storming police lines. He is easily identifiable because he has a lime green bandana covering his head. At one point, he and a large group of rioters use a large metal Trump sign to push back a line of police.
Attached is a second,
smaller sign that reads: “Jesus Saves.”
*
Butts for freedom!
840. Bobby Wayne Russell: Mr. Russell was charged with a number of crimes, including assault, and stood accused of twice attacking police lines, once around 2 p.m., again around 4:20 p.m. By that time police from surrounding departments had arrived to help D.C. Metropolitan and Capitol Hill police.
An officer from Prince George County who was on scene remembers Russell saying, “There’s more of us than you guys, you’re gonna lose.”
Russell also shouted at officers, “I’m not scared of you and I’m not weak.”
In one epic moment from that day, Russell’s backside is allegedly seen pushing against a police barricade.
Which
is kind of fun.
Russell was in D.C. for January 6, along with his wife Deborah; and she appears in one photo from that day atop the terrace just outside the Capitol Building.
She has not been charged.
The guy is white – he’s from Alabama – and he’s 48 – so you figure he’s a Trump supporter. But I can find nothing definitive.
We do know that on June 27, 2023, Mr. Russell pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of assaulting police.
Ironically, Mr. Russell later posted on social media that every patriotic American
should have joined him in the attack on Congress that day, and in the very next
sentence claimed that the riot was actually the work of “paid antifa actors.”
Trump supporter,
he believed the election was stolen
(CLAIMED
TO SEE ANTIFA.)
*
841. Joshua Scott Parmenter: Mr. Parmenter was not arrested for his alleged role in the riot until November 2023. He was first interviewed by the F.B.I. in May 2021, and admitted he traveled alone, from Lancaster, Ohio to Washington D.C., to show his support for Donald J. Trump and to protest the election.
At that time, he admitted being within five feet of a broken door to the Capitol, during the riot, said he could see inside, but did not enter.
Evidence later showed that Parmenter did enter, that he remained inside for three minutes, and exited. For this, he faces a single misdemeanor charge. (The blogger will predict he gets probation.)
Trump
supporter, he believed the election was stolen.
*
Shooting of Ashli Babbitt was staged!
842. Jeremy Ryan Sorvisto Sr.: Incriminating evidence found on the phone of Karl Dresch (#526 on the list) led to arrest and conviction of Mr. Sorvisto. Instagram posts by Sorvisto’s girlfriend, Ashley Aho, also helped close the loop.
In one, Aho posted a picture taken by someone else. She’s asleep in the back of a car, with her head in Jeremy’s lap. “Road tripped to Ohio to stay the night. Fell asleep in his lap. DC tomorrow. #toledo #trump2020.” In another, she included the hashtags “#patriot” and “#fightfortrump.”
Here’s another oddity of the investigations: On Jan. 8, someone using Sorvisto’s Facebook account sent Dresch a link to a story, claiming that Ashli Babbitt had not really been shot – that the incident was staged – a false flag.
(These poor dopes will believe almost anything.)
At one point, on social media, Aho admitted that she and her boyfriend were worried that they’d soon be visited by federal agents: “Every time we hear someone outside we freak tf [the fuck] out.” Aho hasn’t been arrested, so we don’t give her a number for our list. She is, however, exactly the kind of person who showed up on January 6 – and exactly the kind of fool who believed Trumpian lies.
Trump supporter (Jeremy)
Trump supporter, not arrested (Ashley)
*
A stiff cost for believing Trump’s lies.
843-844. DANIEL LEYDEN and JOSEPH LEYDEN: Witness #1, knew the brothers from the neighborhood in Chicago. In December 2021, he or she provided the F.B.I. with the two men’s phone numbers. Bank and phone records also placed the two rioters in D.C. on January 5, and video evidence surfaced, showing them leading the assault on the Capitol the next day.
Daniel, 55, was said to be one of the first to attack police barricades, and knock over at least one officer. Joseph, 56, was charged with leading the rush to overcome police lines in the earliest stages of the riot. When not rioting, the brothers work as electricians, and may be the only brothers from Illinois charged with felony assault, for their part in the attack on Capitol Hill.
They were arrested on August 23, 2022.
On May 23, 2023, the Leyden brothers pled guilty to felony assault on police officers during the riot.
According to court documents,
Daniel and Joseph Leyden were among the rioters who were illegally on the
Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Shortly after 12:50 p.m., Daniel Leyden was in
a crowd that confronted law enforcement officers at metal barricades near the
Peace Circle. Daniel Leyden and other rioters repeatedly lifted and pushed a
metal barricade. These actions caused a U.S. Capitol Police officer to fall
backwards, pinning the officer under the barricade. At the same time, several
other officers were also assaulted by the rioters with the barricade, including
one who was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion. Daniel Leyden’s
actions contributed to injuries that these officers sustained and prevented
officers from defending themselves and providing aid to one another. Daniel
Leyden and other rioters then swarmed past the police.
Joseph Leyden was among
rioters at the West Plaza at the Capitol, where at approximately 1:14 p.m.,
rioters began to pull other metal barriers into the crowd, compromising the
ability to law enforcement officers to re-establish a perimeter. Joseph Leyden
advanced and rushed towards an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department.
He then lunged at and pushed the officer.
Both of the men went to D.C. on January 6, to hear President Trump speak, because they believed his claims the election was stolen.
Falling for Trump’s lies comes at a stiff cost. On September 7, 2023, Daniel is sentenced to 38 months in prison, and Joseph to six. Both brothers will then be required to complete a year of supervised release.
Trump supporter, violent, he believed the election was stolen (Daniel).
Trump supporter, violent, he believed the election was stolen (Joseph).
*
845. Kellye SoRelle: Ms. SoRelle’s legal career has hit a bit of a snag, as she finds herself charged with three felonies, two for obstruction of justice. As a lawyer for the right-wing Oath Keepers group, she allegedly spent her days, in the wake of the January 6 riot, encouraging clients to withhold or destroy any documents they might have, related to the plot to attack the nation’s capital.
In June 2023, the judge in her case rules that “a preponderance of the evidence [shows] that Defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent” to stand trial.
It is then ordered that Ms. SoRelle shall be
hospitalized “for treatment in a suitable medical facility for the
purposes of competency restoration.”
UPDATE: In December 2023, Ms. SoRelle, the former Republican
candidate for a seat in the Texas legislature, and lawyer for “Latinos for
Trump,” has finally entered Bureau of Prisons custody in preparation
for “competency restoration.”
UPDATE #2: We learn on February 6, 2023, that Ms. SoRelle has a status conference set for February 8.
Ryan J. Reilly, who has followed these cases religiously, adds a humorous note to the story of SoRelle’s romance with Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers crew. He notes this exchange, which appeared in court records:
“Speaking
of fucking… if you need some come over.” – Stewart Rhodes to Kellye SoRelle in the days
before Jan. 6.
SoRelle
described herself as “a damn moth to a [fire emoji] “and said she felt like she
was reliving her teenage years.”
(SoRelle had denied they were in a relationship.)
Trump supporter, right-wing
type.
*
“He’s done nothing wrong.”
846. WILLIAM TRYON: Tryon was arrested at his home in March 2021, and charged with three misdemeanor counts, for his cameo in the riot. “He’s done nothing wrong,” his wife Jill insisted in the wake of his arrest. “He went to Washington with millions of other people.”
(That number is wildly inflated, by the way, but let that myth stand – of the righteous in America, rising up for freedom.)
At the time, William and Jill had been living on a farm in Coeymans, New York, for twenty years, and had raised three children.
In fact, William had done something wrong. He had attempted to enter the Capitol, after police blocked his way. He had been pepper sprayed for his troubles, and then interviewed on TV. “All we want to do is enter,” he exclaimed, “and tell our representatives we want our country back. We’re not going to take this.” Then he added more ominously, “this was nothing so far.”
The defendant was carrying an American flag at some point during the attack, and even “obtained a microphone and led a chorus singing ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It,’ by Twisted Sister.”
The cost turned out to be high for the farmer from the Hudson River Valley. He earned 50 days in jail, had to pay $1,500 in fines and restitution, and will spend a year on supervised release.
Trump supporter,
he believed the
election was stolen.
*
847. TYLER WELSH SLAEKER: Two witnesses, related to Mr. Slaeker through marriage, tipped the F.B.I. to his participation in the deadly attack on Capitol Hill. It didn’t help his case, either, when his mother posted two pictures on the day of the riot, and added, “They entered the Capitol building-there is pepper spray going on-police are shutting down the building now.”
Another Facebook commenter asked mom whether there’d been any
violence. “Not until some people entered one of the interior passages and
police were waiting, then it was a pushing match;” she said. “Tyler says he
didn’t see any shooting incident, but heard there was one, but most of the
crowd was calling out to others to be peaceful.”
She said that the photos her son had sent of the crowds showed “normal,
middle class, even older crowds.”
So, you had to wonder. Why was Slaeker wearing a helmet?
In the wake of the riot, according to prosecutors, the defendant showed no remorse. He even posted this “anniversary” picture on social media a year later:
And on June 25, when I update this post, 964 days have passed
since the last presidential election. Still no evidence of significant voter
fraud has been proven.
Trump
supporter.
*
848. JULIA JEANETTE SIZER: Poor Ms. Sizer made the journey from Ellwood City, north of Pittsburgh, to Washington D.C., 288 miles, only to get arrested for spending two minutes inside the Capitol, during the riot, then exiting, then reentering – with her husband, Brian (#941 on the list).
She first entered around 2:48 p.m. that day and almost immediately exited. As the charging document in her case explains:
The
defendant entered through the Parliamentarian Door which had been previously
breached by other rioters.
The
defendant recorded video on her cellular phone as she entered the building. One
video that the defendant recorded shows a tightly packed crowd of rioters
moving through the Parliamentarian Door while shouting "USA! USA!"
The defendant's video pans outside the Capitol Building, depicting scores of rioters
who had overwhelmed law enforcement on the West Side of the building. Alarms can
be heard blaring in the background as the defendant enters the building.
CCTV
shows that the defendant exited the Capitol Building approximately two minutes
after she entered through the Parliamentarian Door, the same door that she
entered.
The
defendant knew at the time she entered the U.S. Capitol Building that that she
did not have permission to enter the building and the defendant paraded,
demonstrated, or picketed.
Sizer, who owns her own nail salon – who showed up on January 6, wearing a Trump “45” stocking cap – paid dearly for her brief moment of poor judgment. She told the judge she had embarrassed herself, but her lawyer asked that she not be sentenced to home confinement, since she ran her own business.
Instead, Sizer was ordered to pay $500 in restitution, a $2,000 fine, and placed on probation for a year.
(Mrs. Sizer was arrested in September 2021; but only later did law enforcement authorities gather enough evidence to charge her husband, Brian. It turned out Julia exited the building, but a few minutes later reentered with her spouse – and sometime after 3:00 p.m. that day both were sprayed with chemical irritant and exited – Stage Right.)
(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTER. NOT DEFINITIVE.)
*
Comic book grader going to court.
849. ROBERT WAYNE DENNIS: The defendant was charged with a number of crimes, the most serious of which was assault. In the “Statement of Facts” in his case, we learn that he approached a line of police guarding stairs at the Upper West Terrace to the Capitol Building. It was just after 2:51 p.m.
DENNIS
pointed at the officers with both hands and appeared to place his hands on an
officer. Officer D.P. then used a two handed baton technique to push DENNIS
away from the line of officers. DENNIS then grabbed Officer D.P.’s baton and
was turned sideways, colliding with Officer J.S. Officer J.S. then used a
two-handed baton technique to push DENNIS away from the line. DENNIS then
turned back to Officer J.S. while keeping hold of a baton and took Officer J.S.
to the ground after a violent struggle with him (Figure Three). Officer J.S.’s
baton was knocked out of his hands. Officer J.S. recovered his baton, returned
to a standing position, and resumed his position on the line separating the
crowd from the United States Capitol while other officers attempted to control
DENNIS.
Mr. Dennis was briefly detained at the scene, identified around 3:13, and released, with a warning that a warrant would be issued at a later date.
He was a long way from Garland, Texas on January 6, motivated by what, and spurred on by whom?
When not throwing punches at cops on Capitol Hill, Dennis, 61, offers his services “in comics art restoration and comic book grading.”
Hopefully, he can use those skills while he serves time in prison. In January 2023, he is convicted on six charges, acquitted on two, but will henceforth carry multiple felonies on his record. On April 13, 2023, he is sentenced to three years in prison, with two added years on probation, and stuck for $2,000 in restitution.
When first asked by federal agents why he had gone to D.C. on January 6, he explained that he was “waiting for the ‘Kraken’ to be released.” In fact, he insisted that God knew why he went to the Capital, and that it had been the “righteous thing to do.”
Trump supporter.
*
Dressel wasn’t a patriot, he was a chump.
850. JOSHUA DRESSEL: In the wake of the riot, Dressel was turned in almost immediately by an individual who had known him for years. Screenshots of his social media posts were provided to the F.B.I.; but his accounts (he had three) were soon deleted. He could be seen entering the Capitol Building around 2:14 p.m.
Evidence against Mr.
Dressel included this Facebook conversation, which federal agents managed to
recover:
Facebook User 1: Good job today!!!! [5:41 p.m.]
DRESSEL: First 20 people or so to break into the Capitol
[5:45 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: You’re a fucking beauty!!!!!! Was there
antifa fucks in there? [5:50-5:51 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Yes [5:52 p.m.] * * *
Facebook User 1: You still out on the streets? [5:57 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Just now leaving. [6:00 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: Will yas be back tomorrow? [6:01 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Yes [6:02 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: I have so many questions hahaha [6:02 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Haha [6:02 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: You guys are true patriots!!!! Should be
fucking proud of yourselves. [6:02 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Thanks. Love ya brother! [6:27 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: Now they’re resuming the electoral count.
After the curfew and everyone leaves. Some of these republican senators better
reject it. [7:08 p.m.] DRESSEL: These mother fuckers! [7:08 p.m.]
Facebook User 1: It’s unbelievable. I can only imagine how
you furious you guys are. I’m livid and I’m Canadian. [7:11 p.m.]
DRESSEL: Dude this shit is fucking outrageous. It’s crazy,
swamp is larger [7:12 p.m.]
So:
another rioter who thought he was a patriot – but wasn’t – because he was
really a chump for a president who wasn’t a patriot either.
In April 2022, he plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge. For his sins he earned 14 days in jail, and had to pay $1,000 in fines and restitution.
Trump supporter, he believed the “stolen election”
myth.
*
Like “Chavez’s Venezuela.”
851-852. MARILYN FASSELL and THOMAS FASSELL:
Mr. and Mrs. Fassell learned the hard way that one should not boast on Facebook
if one is involved in a bloody attack on American democracy.
Thomas allegedly did.
Fifteen days after the riot, an F.B.I. agent talked to the couple in front of their Florida home. Marilyn “explained that she and her husband drove from their home in Largo, FL on January 5, 2021, to Washington, D.C. The purpose of their trip was to participate in a peaceful protest.”
After listening to President Trump and others speak that day, they were among those in the crowd who headed for the Capitol. She and her husband were not among the first rioters to enter, for by the time the Fassells arrived, the doors to the Capitol were broken, and windows shattered.
Mr. Fassell told an interviewing agent that he and his wife were inside the Capitol for about 40 minutes. At one point, during a video recorded that day, Marilyn Fassell can be heard exhorting others, “they can’t stop millions.” In fact, his wife was heard, cheering on the mob. “In a video timestamped 2:12 p.m., MARILYN FASSELL can also be heard saying, ‘Take it! Take it! Take it!’ and ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’” In another video, she can be heard saying, “Let’s go…come on, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, go, why are we stopping? Why is everybody stopping?”
Both Mr. and Mrs. Fassell plead guilty in July 2022. In December, Mrs. Fassell is sentenced to 30 days in jail. The judge blisters her for taking part in an “inexcusable attack on our democracy” – noting that she had previously been placed on probation after a “driving while impaired” conviction, only to violate the terms and end up being sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Thomas gets seven days behind bars, and two years on probation, with the judge repeatedly telling them, and everyone in court how “fragile” democracy is. She goes on to compare what Trump tried to do, with the help of unwitting people like the Marilyn and Thomas, to “Chavez’s Venezuela,” and “Pinochet’s Chile.”
Trump supporters (both).
*
853-854. ERIC CRAMER and COUNTRY CRAMER: Initially, before the arrests began, the people who showed up and stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were proud of what they had done. Eric and his brother Country were exposed when Larissa Cramer, Eric’s daughter noted that her father had been struck with a police “battalion” (baton), but had then wrestled it from the officer.
Eric, himself, posted a picture of the baton, and called it his “trophy.” Then the tipsters turned the brothers in. On January 19, less than two weeks after the riot, federal authorities visited Eric at his Romney, West Virginia home. He admitted he brought a bullhorn to the riot. He said he and Country joined the march toward the Capitol, heard the growing noise, and went up a stairway on the west side of the Capitol.
As Eric told the tale:
ERIC
CRAMER stated that, while standing in a crowd of people between the reflecting
pool area and the barrier scaffolding, he was hit in the right side of his
torso by a police officer with an ASP baton. Immediately after being struck,
ERIC CRAMER said he bent over on the side that he was struck as the officer
dropped the baton, and he picked up the officer’s dropped baton. ERIC CRAMER
advised that he was pushed into the U.S. Capitol building by the crowd of
protesters. ERIC CRAMER advised that after an opportunity to exit the U.S.
Capitol building presented itself, he exited the building to locate and reunite
with his brother near the reflecting pool area on the West side of the U.S.
Capitol building. ERIC CRAMER advised that he posted a photograph of the ASP
baton on his Facebook page after returning to West Virginia on January 6, 2021.
Country Cramer was interviewed over the phone, on January 29, and insisted he did not enter the building.
So far, so good, for the boys from West Virginia. But another tipster, #3 in court records, soon provided a picture of the Cramer’s standing outside the Capitol. Eric is looking like he needs to lose a few pounds – but has a gas mask in his right hand. Country has a tactical helmet on his head, and holds a bullhorn at his side.
The plot then thickened, as they say in West Virginia. Eric was reinterviewed in August 2021. Now he admitted Country did go inside. Country was interviewed again, too. This time he admitted he went inside, but only to find Eric, who happened to be standing “just inside.” They both then exited through a window. Country also admitted that they had brought bats and helmets to D.C., because “they had seen other rallies turn violent on television and they wanted to protect themselves.” The F.B.I. checked phone records next and began looking for the brothers in the crowd. In several photos taken that day, the two appear together, or separately. Eric is carrying a blue baseball bat. Country has his bullhorn and a miniature baseball bat.
By 2:51 p.m. that day, the Cramer brothers have helped batter back police lines and enter the Capitol. Country hoists his bullhorn and gives voice to the anger. They soon go back outside. Eric is wearing a “Trump 2020” sweatshirt, and still carrying blue bat and gas mask, and wearing a military style backpack. Country has a large “Trump 2020” flag wrapped round his shoulders.
Both brothers faced four federal charges. Eric was seen grabbing at least one officer by the arm. Both signed plea deals, with Eric facing up to a year behind bars. Country copped to a misdemeanor.
Eric’s “trophy” comes at a steep price – and he gets eight months in prison for his role in the riot. He’ll also spend a year on probation and pay $500.
Country gets 45 days on house
arrest, and four years to spend visiting with his probation officer. Also: he
owes the feds $500.
(LIKELY
TRUMP SUPPORTERS.)
*
“Thank you for allowing the United States of America to be reborn.”
855. Richard T. Crosby Jr.: Mr. Crosby is pretty much cooked, as soon as he stands, during the riot, on the Senate dais, with the “QAnon Shaman” and other rioters, and poses for a series of pictures.
At one point, Jacob Chansley (#101 on our list), the “Shaman,” offers up prayer (of a sort), intoning, “Thank you for allowing the United States of America to be reborn. Thank you for allowing us to get rid of the communists, globalists, and traitors within our government.” At that, Crosby raised his arms in praise of God, and Jesus, and “Q,” and Donald J. Trump, and shouted, “Amen.”
When F.B.I. agents showed up at his parents’ home in Connecticut, mom and dad admitted he Richard had gone to D.C. by himself, because he believed the election was stolen. Richard later admitted he had been inside the building (if there was ever any doubt), said he had seen other rioters “pounding” on windows and doors with fists, feet and flagpoles, and noted that he had seen one rioter carrying away a “succulent house plant” in a pot, which that rioter said he took from a legislator’s desk.
Young Mr. Crosby was charged with six federal offenses, in May 2021, but his case has yet to be resolved.
Trump supporter,
he fell for the
“stolen election” lies.
*
“Band of Anons.”
856. LILITH ANTON SAER: Portland, Oregon is synonymous in right-wing circles for Antifa, riots, and homeless people clogging the streets of a liberal city. So, when Ms. Saer, of Portland, is arrested you think: “Finally, one of those liberal rabble rousers who stirred up all the good Trump people on January 6.”
But you are doomed to disappointment. As even Fox News notes, “According to court documents, the FBI were able to identify her after numerous tips on Twitter identified photos of Saer at the Capitol during the insurrection. The tips linked her with conspiracy group, QAnon.”
Saer also had a Twitter account under the name, “TheMontaukPill,” under the banner “Band of Anons.”
Open source videos from January 6 show Saer in her bright blue hair, wearing a pair of “Q” gloves.
In January 2023, Saer pleads guilty to a single misdemeanor charge. Her real crime? Believing in Trump. And QAnon. And being a dumb ass.
Her punishment: three years on probation, 200 hours of community service, and $500 in restitution.
Trump supporter; QAnon.
*
 |
Cholod -circled in red. |
857. Raymond Cholod: It takes nearly two years, but Cholod is arrested on November 4, 2022. He was then charged with a battery of crimes, including assault on a police officer. That included helping lead the attack on the Lower West Terrace tunnel, where some of the hardest fighting took place.
According to the Statement of Facts in his case, Cholod was clear about why he had come to D.C. While battling the police, he shouted at them, “This is our house . . . This is our fucking house. They fucking stole it and you fucking know it. They stole it and you know it. They fucking stole it.”
In fact, “they” didn’t. Biden got 7,000,000 more votes, and in three plus years since the election, no court has ever found proof that the election was stolen. On February 12, 2024, another Trump-loving dope goes down in legal flames.
Cholod pleads guilty.
Trump supporter, he believed the
election was stolen.
*
858. Mike Chan: Mr. Chan may be one of the dumbest suspects of them all. On Jan. 8, he texted an F.B.I. agent, and then called too. He had the agent’s number from a friend, he said, and wanted to report that the Trump rally had been infiltrated by Antifa and Black Lived Matter types.
Chan later admitted he carried a “stab and poke thing” for safety during the march to the Capitol, because he feared left-wing types were out to get Trump supporters. He said he entered the building with “journalistic intent,” although he lacked press credentials. On social media, he later asked another individual if they had “contacts” he could talk to about the “mainstream media’s” lies.
At that point, he admitted, “I was inside [the Capitol] for 30 minutes and have decent footage to dispel the bs.”
Trump supporter.
(CLAIMED TO SEE ANTIFA.)
*
859-861. Stephanie Chiguer, KIRSTYN NIEMELA and MICHAEL ECKERMAN: Tips to the F.B.I. first led authorities to Niemela, and then Chiguer and Eckerman. As the Statement of Facts in their case explains. First came a key tip from Witness 1, and then a second tip from the same:
W-1
reported that they and NIEMELA were friends months ago, but they distanced
themselves from NIEMELA because of her rhetoric. They indicated they talked to
her two weeks earlier and NIEMELA indicated she was “going to take back the
country.” NIEMELA told W-1 she was in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 and
she showed them a video of her breaking a window in the Capitol building. She
also mentioned to them that she was a member of the Proud Boys. W-1 also
claimed that NIEMELA stated that “there is something big coming… [that] the
whole nation will watch it happen.” W-1 mentioned that NIEMELA “carries a[n]
illegal handgun with her at all times.” W-1 also listed NIEMELA’s phone number
as a telephone number ending in 7169.
In photos from January 6, Niemela could be seen wearing a sweatshirt which read, “We the People ARE PISSED OFF.” A woman who appears beside her is wearing the same kind of sweatshirt.
A little digging soon revealed the identity of the second female, Niemela’s girlfriend, Stephanie Chiguer. In one picture, taken on the day of the riot, they stand next to Michael Eckerman, who is wearing body armor, and holding neon yellow gloves. Eckerman has also been charged and found guilty of participating in the riot.
Phone, photo and video records soon tied the three defendants together, all inside the Capitol during the riot, and moving as a trio.
Evidence also indicated that police had been called to the home of the two women in Dracut, Massachusetts in September 2021, related to some kind of domestic dispute.
Additional information soon surfaced, showing that Eckerman was at the forefront of rioters, as they pushed back police lines. To be exact: “At approximately 2 p.m. [on January 6], Eckerman observed rioters fighting with police officers outside the Capitol and began yelling at officers that they were ‘traitors to the country.’” He breached the building at about 2:24 p.m., and soon “joined a crowd in pushing their collective bodies forward to breach a police line in the Crypt.”
Soon after,
he and others in the mob encountered another small group of
officers who were trying to block access to nearby stairs leading to Statuary
Hall and the area near the Speaker’s Lobby. Eckerman pushed his way to the
front of the stand-off and once again used his body as part of a collective
surge to get past the small line of law enforcement officers. At this moment,
he was face to face with an officer with the U.S. Capitol Police, who put his
hand on Eckerman’s shoulder. Eckerman moved his body forward to forcibly
resist, impede, and interfere with the officer, which, along with the actions
of others in the mob, caused the officer to stumble down some steps.
On November 8, 2022, Eckerman was found guilty of felony assault and could have faced up to eight years in prison.
Chiguer has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor charge.
Evidence
in the case against Niemela included her thoughts on bringing a gun to the
festivities, and suggestions that the mob should make lawmakers worry about
their safety when they leave the building. Also, she suggested to one contact,
that the pro-Trump folks should “hang ’em high.”
The cost to Mr. Eckerman proves high. On March 8, 2023, he is sentenced to spend 20 months as a guest at a federal prison. Two extra years on probation will follow, and he gets docked $2,000.
In June 2023, Ms. Niemela gets a sentence of 11 months behind bars. And still no evidence the election was stolen.
At one point, Niemela told a friend she was in D.C., because she and her pals were going to “take back the country.”
Trump supporter, right wing type (Niemela)
(LIKELY TRUMP SUPPORTERS, CHIGUER AND ECKERMAN.)
*
862. FRANCIS CONNOR: The young man from Old Hickory, Tennessee traveled to D.C. with his friends, Anton Lunyk (#309 on our list) and Antonio Ferrigno (#863). Connor and Ferrigno were both ensnared by authorities after Lunyk was arrested. A photo from his phone tipped off federal agents to the presence of the other two inside the Capitol on Jan. 6., and a case was built accordingly.
Like his friend, Lunyk, Connor, 23, plead guilty to one misdemeanor and was sentenced in September 2022.
The cost of loyalty to President Trump – the arch liar
– was three months of home confinement, sixty hours of community service, $871
in fines and restitution, and nine additional months on probation.
Trump supporter.
*
863. ANTONIO FERRIGNO: The three young dopes have all plead guilty now, although Ferrigno at one point called his friends “idiots” for convincing him to enter the Capitol Building during the riot.
Lunyk, for his part,
texts at one point about how he was “gonna shoot pelosi.” In any case, Ferrigno
also pleads guilty and gets a slightly lesser punishment than Connor, with with
only two months of home confinement.
 |
Connor (blue circle, Ferrigno (red), and Lunyk. |
Trump supporter
*
864. Jolene Eicher: Just twelve days after the riot, a former high school classmate of Eicher’s tipped off federal authorities. She said an Associated Press photo clearly showed her old classmate inside the Capitol during the riot.
The tipster also noted that he/she had heard Eicher worked for a rescue squad in Farmville, Virginia, but had lost her job as a result of her involvement. Other witnesses came forward, and told authorities that Eicher admitted she had joined the attack, and showed no remorse. Instead, she “was proud of her actions.”
Social media posts on the day of the riot, and after, implicated Eicher as well. In one she admitted she had been “pepper sprayed.” In another, she stands proudly on the steps of the Capitol, holding a “Trump 2020” banner. The defendant could also be seen climbing through a broken window at one point.
She was not arrested until January 31, 2022, however.
A 22-year-old Farmville woman of the same name was charged with reckless driving and attempting to elude police in 2013. That incident ended with a Ms. Eicher running her VW Beetle off the road and flipping it into a field.
A Facebook page which appears to belong to the defendant includes a “like” of the Abolish Abortion Virginia organization.
On June 14, 2023, Donald
Trump’s 77th birthday, Eicher is found guilty by a
jury on all four misdemeanor charges.
Trump supporter.
*
865. Neil Ashcraft: Mr. Ashcraft and “Person 1” drove to D.C. on January 5, according to court documents. At one point, he scaled scaffolding, set up outside the Capitol, and “exhorted other rioters” to storm the building. He also used a knife he had been handed to cut away about twelve feet of white sheating. His “intent was to allow other rioters to see inside the scaffolding and to create an area for rioters to hang flags.”
At 2:13 p.m. rioters broke into the building through a window, and a minute later broke through a door to the Senate Wing. Ashcraft, now carrying a metal pole, was one of the first inside.
At one point, he posed for a picture in front of a statue of Ronald Reagan. He left the building, but soon returned, with a flag he had stolen from the Capitol Rotunda wrapped around his shoulders. He exited the building after about forty minutes, taking the flag and pole with him.
In the wake of the riot, Person 1 and Ashcraft became concerned about the evidence in his possession. Ashcraft burned the flag and threw the pole in a lake near their home.
Ashcraft has admitted to two crimes. He plead guilty on September 19, 2022, and awaits sentencing.
Trump supporter.
866. LAWRENCE AMBROSE: Mr. Ambrose was arrested in September 2022. He told F.B.I. agents he was close to Ashli Babbit when she was shot; but he was not accused of any violence. In July 2022, he agreed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge related to the attack.
According to NPR, he has
now been sentenced to 45 days of house arrest, with fines and restitution, and
community service also required.
(POLITICAL AFFILIATION NOT KNOWN.)
*
867-868. Michelle Estey and Melanie Belger: Video evidence would appear to be the undoing of these two women, who allegedly appear in a video taken inside Room ST2M at the Capitol on January 6. An F.B.I. agent sought an interview with Estey in September 2021. Estey declined to speak without an attorney present, as was her right.
Court documents note:
In order to access Capitol Building room ST2M on January 6,
2021, ESTEY had to climb through a broken window. ESTEY was inside room ST2M
for several minutes with other rioters while furniture was being destroyed,
desks and drawers rummaged and files ransacked and searched. ESTEY eventually
exited the room by crawling out the broken window.
Phone records also appear to place both women inside the Capitol during the riot. A search of social media posts also damages any defense the women might have. Belger posted several times on the day of the riot. In one post she mentions being at the Capitol door, having been “roped,” which is unclear, and “sprayed,” which is not, adding “Round 2” is coming. Later that day, she posts: “Was in the Capitol im safe.. Pence=NOT SAFE.”
She also declined to speak to federal agents without an attorney present. The two women were finally charged on September 16, 2022, and both now face four charges.
*
A group about “hatred for others.”
869-873. Joseph Brody, JON LIZAK, PAUL LOVLEY, GABRIEL CHASE and THOMAS CAREY: Brody, Lizak, Lovley, Chase, and Carey communicated together in days leading up to the attack, met up, and entered the Capitol Building together. The complaint against them reads, in part:
CCTV
footage captured the group moving throughout the building, multiple levels, and
several corridors and rooms. They remained in the U.S. Capitol, enabling the
disruption of U.S. Congressional proceedings along with other rioters, for over
30 minutes. All five individuals entered the Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi’s Office. Brody entered the floor of the U.S. Senate Chamber, where the
members of the Senate would hear objections to the certification as part of the
process for the Electoral College vote to certify the President of the United
States. While there he filmed and/or photographed the desks of U.S. Senators.
After
exiting the U.S. Capitol, rather than leave the vicinity of U.S. Capitol
restricted area, the group proceeded to the North end of the building and
witnessed in close proximity the attempted breach of an exterior door located
there (the “North Door”). Brody assisted another rioter in using a metal
barricade against a Capitol Police officer, knocking the officer back as he
attempted to secure the North Door. Brody’s associates watched as he assaulted
this law enforcement officer. The group then watched the destruction of media
equipment, which had been surrounded by metal barricades. While there, both
Brody and Chase participated in the destruction. Brody appeared to damage a
corded phone, and Chase appeared to loot a pair of headphones. Lovley joined the
circle and filmed the looters and rioters.
Evidence places the group inside the building by 2:16 p.m. Phone records also place each of the five inside the Capitol, and payment records for a Domino’s Pizza location in Maryland also link the quintet.
Brody is seen wearing a suit and tie and looking quite dapper in photos from the day of the attack. It would seem that his distinctive style helped federal authorities pick him out of the crowd, and may have helped lead to the arrest of the others.
The
five men, usually traveling together, are seen in multiple locations, and,
after exiting the building, Brody is seen here, using a metal bicycle rack to
attack officers still defending another entrance to the Capitol.
Finally, the “Statement of Facts” in their case explains:
Additionally,
the investigation has shown that Lovely [sic], Brody, Chase, Lizak, and Carey
were associated with a group known as America First. Leadership of America
First has espoused a belief that they are defending against the demographic and
cultural changes in America. Lovely [sic], Brody, Chase, and Lizak initially
met at an America First event and attended subsequent events together. After
meeting, they continued to communicate through a social media platform. Carey
traveled with Lovely [sic], Chase, and Lizak and met Brody in Washington, D.C.
on January 6, 2021.
All five men were charged with multiple offenses, with Broidy facing felony charges for assault.
They were arrested in September 2022. Lizak and Chase have both pled guilty to a single misdemeanor. Carey has agreed to a plea deal on one misdemeanor charge, and gets 14 days in jail, three years on probation and has to pay $500. Lovley pled guilty and was awarded two weeks in a jail cell, and three years on probation.
Prior to his arrest, we also learn that Lovley worked for the National Security Agency, as an information technology specialist.
He’ll be serving his time on seven weekends in succession. I am also thinking he may be losing his job.
Chase admits in court, “I am someone who made the stupidest decision of my life because I was gullible enough to believe the lies of people who were using me for their own aggrandizement.” People such as neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, leader of America First, and the tangerine-tinted former President of the United States. Chase gets three days in jail, a bill for $500 in restitution, and three years on probation. (We also learn that he has completed his AA and is now studying history at the University of Florida.)
Lizak is one of the last to plead: guilty, and gets three years on probation.
Prosecutors note that the five men were associated with the far-right “America First” group, led by Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.
In a letter, submitted in September 2023 to the court, Lizak talked about his plans to be married in three weeks.
He described being disinterested in sports growing up, but being interested in politics. In college, partying didn’t interest him, but he found fellowship after he joined “America First” in 2019. It became a “corrupting organization.” He goes on to say, the group was about “hatred for others,” and about “heinous dehumanization,” which led “many fools like myself to blindly follow the call to attend the rally on January 6th.”
FUN FASCIST FACT: Mr. Chase and Mr. Brody are also allegedly seen destroying and looting media equipment on the day of the riot.
UPDATE: Brody is the last to be convicted for his crimes, and gets hit with a pair of felony raps.
Right-wing types (all five).
*
A not guilty verdict!
874. MATTHEW MARTIN: Martin, a federal defense contractor with a top-secret security clearance, admitted he entered the Capitol during the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, but claimed he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed.
The Trump-loving dope now has the distinction of being the only defendant so far found not guilty in court.
Martin took personal leave from his job in order to head for D.C. and be there on Jan. 6, traveling all the way from Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was arrested in April 2021 and faced four federal charges.
After a two-day bench trial, in front of U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a Trump appointee, Mr. Martin walked out of court, a free man.
But still a dope.
Judge McFadden bought Martin’s excuses, after he testified that
he didn’t see everything that was happening around him during
the attack, even though the video [Martin] recorded (which was played by the
government) shows broken windows and an alarm blaring when he enters the
Capitol on the east side after rioters bust open the doors leading to the
rotunda.
McFadden said that the first charge of entering and remaining in
a restricted building was a “close call” but that there was reasonable doubt
whether Martin knew he was entering a restricted building (although he said it
was “more likely than not” that Martin knew he wasn’t supposed to go inside).
McFadden also said it was “not unreasonable” for Martin to have assumed
that outnumbered officers were allowing protesters to enter the Capitol.
McFadden said the government didn’t show evidence of Martin crossing police
lines – which the mob had broken down before he arrived.
**Judge McFadden has not been sympathetic to the rioters, generally. In a bench trial before him – that is, a trial without a jury – he found Kevin Seefried (#110 on our list) and Hunter Seefried (#111), father and son, guilty on all five charges they faced, including one felony each.
Trump supporter – now a free man.
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