Those who attacked their own nation’s capitol failed to consider the consequences for doing so.
On January 6, 2021, a mob of Donald Trump supporters staged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building.
The Guardian reported that people stormed the chambers of the House and Senate while the Electoral College votes were being tallied.
Their actions did not change the outcome of the tally. Representatives and Senators returned to their work later that night to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
Many of the insurrectionists quickly found themselves facing consequences for heir actions. Some now face legal charges, and others lost their jobs.
The Guy who Threw a Fire Extinguisher At Police Officers
January 14, 2021: The Wall Street Journal posted “Man Who Allegedly Threw Fire Extinguisher at Police Arrested on Federal Charges.” It was written by Aruna Viswanata and Erin Ailworth.
A retired firefighter from Pennsylvania was arrested Thursday morning for allegedly throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers at the pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol as captured on video, U.S. officials said.
Robert Sanford of Chester, Pa, faces three federal felony charges including assaulting a police officer after he was allegedly identified as the person who lobbed a fire extinguisher on the west side of the Capitol, at around 2:30 pm, as the mob crashed past a thin line of Capitol police officers and stormed toward the building on Jan. 6.
In an affidavit filed in connection with Mr. Sandford’s arrest, an FBI agent described the mob as “insurrectionists.” “The video was shot from an elevated position and showed an area of the Capitol that with a large group of police officers surrounded on at least three sides by a group of insurrectionists,” the statement of facts said. It also described the object hitting all three officers in the head, including one that was not wearing a helmet.
Around the same time, a radio dispatch captured by OpenMHZ, a platform that records radio chatter from law enforcement and life-safety services agencies, relayed an emergency code: “There is a 10-33 at the Capitol building. It has been breached.” The 10-33 code signifies an emergency in which an officer needs assistance.
The extinguisher that Mr. Sandford allegedly threw is separate from the one that killed Officer Brian Sicknick, who was also struck in the head with a fire extinguisher during the unrest and died from his wounds, officials said.
One of the officers who was hit, William Young, was evaluated at a hospital and cleared to return to duty, the charging document said. A friend of Mr. Sanford’s tipped off the FBI to his involvement, the document said adding that he was around 55-years old and had recently retired from the Chester Fire Department.
The tipster relayed to the FBI in an interview that Mr. Sanford had told his friend that he had traveled to Washington D.C., wit ha group of of people on a bus, that the group had gone to the White House and listened to President Trump’s speech “and then had followed the President’s instructions and gone to the Capitol,” the statement said.
Law enforcement officers on Capitol grounds were targeted by the crowd with a variety of makeshift weapons, including extinguishers and flags.
Dispatched captured by OpenMHZ caught several instances of officers injure in the melee.
“Multiple officers injured at the Capitol, west side,” one dispatch says around 1:20 p.m. Another at about 2:05 p.m. relays: “Saying that they have an officer down, hit in the head.”
The charges against Mr. Sanford, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, come as prosecutors have filed dozens of cases against the most visible participants in the riot, many of whose efforts were widely broadcast on social media. Neighbors and others who recognized the participants have also provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation with tips about their identities, according to court documents.
Mr. Sanford faces charges of using a deadly weapon in a restricted area, which carries a potential 10 year prison term, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction law enforcement.
January 14, 2021: The Associated Press reported: “Charges: Ex-firefighter threw extinguisher at Capitol Police” It was written by Michael Rubinkam and Claudia Lauer.
A retired Pennsylvania firefighter was arrested on Thursday on federal charges that he threw a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol Police officers during the violent siege on the Capitol last week.
Robert Sanford, 55, who retired last year from the Chester Fire Department, outside Philadelphia, turned himself in to the FBI to face charges that include assault of a police officer, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, civil disorder and unlawfully entering the Capitol.
Sanford, a supporter of President Donald Trump, got “caught up in the mob mentality,” his lawyer, Enrique Latosion, told The Associated Press.
The charges against Sanford are not related to the widely publicized attack on Officer Brian Sicknick, who also was assaulted with a fire extinguisher during the siege and who later died.
Sanford was held in Pennsylania’s Lehigh County jail, where he had an initial court appearance by video Thursday and was denied bail.
Latoison argued to the judge that Sanford should be released on bail, citing his long service as a firefighter, his strong family ties and his lack of a criminal record. Sanford, a married father of three, did not go to Washington with weapons or the intent of rioting, and does not belong to any extremist groups, Latoison argued.
A federal prosecutor asserted in court — apparently in error — that a search of Sandford’s house Thursday turned up a T-shirt associated with the Proud Boys, a far-right group. Latoison told AP afterwards that an inventory of the search listed no such T-shirt, and said Sanford vigorously denied owning one. The prosecutor later acknowledged she had misspoken, blaming a miscommunication among FBI agents, Latoison said in a follow-up interview late Thursday.
“That’s a big mistake, and I’m not happy about it,” Latoison said. “I thought he was coming home until she came back with that.”
Noting the seriousness of the charges, the judge ordered Sanford to be held without bail, saying he presented a danger to the community.
Authorities said the case will be prosecuted in Washington.
The FBI asked the public this week to help identify a man seen in video stills who picked up a fire extinguisher and threw it at police outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. According to the charging documents, the extinguisher bounced off the heads of three officers, two of whom wore helmets.
Sanford, 55, traveled by bus with other people to the Capitol, according to documents. He told a friend when he returned home that he had been on the grounds for 10 minutes before leaving but did not mention throwing anything at officers authorities said.
The friend saw the photos released by federal authorities and contacted police.
Latoison told AP that Sanford had attended Trump’s rally near the White House, in which the president told his supporters to walk to the Capitol and to “fight like hell” against the election results.
Without acknowledging Sandford’s guilt, Latoison said Sanford marched to the Capitol after Trump’s speech “and things go heated and he unfortunately got caught up.”
“People who seemingly are good people who have good intentions get themselves in a group, and then do something stupid they wouldn’t otherwise do,” he said.
“I’m not defending what happened,” Latoison added.
Sanford joined the Chester Fire Department in 1994 and retired nearly a year ago, according to city officials. He had an unblemished record, a city spokesperson said.
Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland called last week’s riot an act of domestic terrorism and said that if any city employee, current or former, took part in it, “then we hope our legal system will work according to its purpose and bring them to justice.”
April 11, 2023: The Hill reported: “Man who threw fire extinguisher at officers on Jan. 6 sentenced 52 months in prison” It was written by Lauren Sforza.
A Pennsylvania man who threw a fire extinguisher at police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
Robert Sanford, 57, was sentenced to 52 months behind bars, followed by 36 month of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in September to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
According to the Justice Department, Sanford — who is a retired firefighter — was on Capitol grounds that day as part of a group on the Lower West Terrace, where he threw a fire extinguisher at a group of Capitol Police officers and struck three of them in the head. He also threw a traffic cone aimed at the officers and yelled that they were “traitors,” according to the department.
Sanford was arrested on Jan. 14, 2021, just a little over a week after the attacks on the Capitol, after he turned himself in to authorities.
Federal prosecutors initially wanted a prison sentence of up to 71 months — almost five years — for Sanford.
Prosecutors said in the sentencing memo that one of the officer sustained swelling and a bump on their head after being hit with the fire extinguisher, while another got a medical examination from a hospital but did not report further injuries.
Sanford’s attorney, Andrew Stewart, argued in his memo that the retired firefighter should only be sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison followed by 12 months of at-home confinement, which would then be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. He also argued that the victims hit by the fire extinguisher did not sustain “significant” enough injuries to warrant a sentencing enhancement for causing bodily injury.
Stewart also noted that Sanford has been working with an individual who specializes in “cult deprograming” to help him understand why his beliefs led him to the actions he took on Jan. 6. He also claims that his client is “deeply sorry” for his actions in the memo, which was filed earlier this month.
“During this process, Mr. Sanford was confronted with facts about the “stolen election” conspiracy theory among others and how psychological manipulation is used to indoctrinate the followers of a conspiracy,” Stewart wrote in the memo. “Mr. Sanford learned how mental health problems, wither diagnosed or not, cause isolation which, when paired with a belief in a conspiracy, gradually cause more isolation.”
ABC News reported: With former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial starting today, Senate Democrats are focused in trying to tie a direct line between Trump’s rhetoric and the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
An ABC News investigation into the nearly 200 accused rioters facing federal charges for their alleged involvement at the Capitol — based on court filings, military records, interviews, and available news reports — found that at least fifteen individuals who stormed the building have since said that they acted based on Trump’s encouragement, including some of those accused of the most violent and serious crimes.
“I believed I was following the instructions of former President Trump,” said Garrett Miller in a statement released through his lawyer. “I also left Washington and started back to Texas immediately after President Trump asked us to go home.”
Miller, who admitted to entering the Capitol in his statement, also threatened to “assassinate” Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that same day, which he apologized for.
“While I never intended to harm Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez nor harm any members of the Capitol police force, I recognize that my social media posts were completely inappropriate,” said Miller, who is facing five charges, including making threats, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. “They were made at a time when Donald Trump had me believing that an American election was stolen. I want to publicly apologize to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and the Capitol police offices.”
Robert Bauer told FBI Agents in an interview that he “marched to the U.S. Capitol because President Trump said to do so,” according to court records. Bauer pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, according to local reports. His lawyer declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
At least one rioter said he is willing to testify during the impeachment trial about how Trump’s words resonated with him, according to his lawyer.
“He heard the words of the president. He believed them. He genuinely believed him,” Jacob Chansley’s lawyer, Al Watkins, told ABC News in an interview. “He thought the president was walking with him.”
During his speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall before the riot, Trump had urged his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” alongside him to protest the certification of the election. “You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” Trump declared. “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
Chansley pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include violent entry in a Capitol building and obstruction of an official proceeding.
In their 80-page impeachment brief, Democrats describe the Jan. 6 speech, in which Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell,” as “a militaristic demand that they must fight to stop what was occurring in the Capitol at that very moment.”
Trump’s lawyers have defended his comments at the rally as ones that “fall squarely within the protections of the First Amendment.”
“Mr. Trump, having been elected nationally, was elected to be the voice for his national constituency,” his lawyers wrote in a brief last week.
Among the rioters who now say they took Trump’s words to heart are those accused of perpetrating some of the most violent crimes that day. They include an alleged member of the Proud Boys — which the FBI has characterized as a “nationalist organization whose members sometimes engage in acts of violence” — who was charged with conspiracy to “obstruct, influence, impede, and interfere with law enforcement officers engaged in their official duties.” Also among them is Emanuel Jackson, who allegedly attacked a police officer with a baseball bat.
“The nature of the circumstances of this offense must be viewed through the lens of an event inspired by the President of the United States,” said Jackson’s lawyer of his client’s alleged attack on an officer. He did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Robert Sanford, a Pennsylvania man who is accused of throwing a fire extinguisher at an officer, told investigators he had “followed the President’s instructions and gone to the Capitol,” according to his court records. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, according to local reports.
The lawyer for Riley June Williams, who prosecutors allege stole the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s laptop, said in an interview the CNN that her client had taken Trump’s “bait.”
Through social media posts and testimony included in affidavits and other court filings, FBI agents have highlighted how dozens of others facing charges saw Trump’s pleas for his supporters to convene in Washington ahead of the Electoral College vote count as a clarion call that they should be prepared for violence.
On Sunday, a journalist posted a video of what appears to be a rioter reading out the president’s tweets through a megaphone at the Capitol. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution,” a man yells out to a crowd, reading Trump’s tweet from earlier in the day off his phone.
Investigators in recent weeks have signaled that they’re focused on determining to what extent certain participants coordinated the assault on the Capitol, with prosecutors securing multiple grand jury indictments for conspiracy against members of the Proud Boys as well as the far-right Oath Keepers militia.
Last week, federal prosecutors in separate court filings detailed several instances in which six members of the Proud Boys allegedly worked in tandem among scores of rioter overtaking the Capitol.
A self-described “Sergeant at Arms” of the Proud Boys’ Seattle chapter, Ethan Nordean, was arrested last week, with prosecutors pointing to social media posts that they said indicated an “intent to organize a group that intended to engage in conflict” at the Capitol.
“For example, around Dec. 7, 2020, Nordeen posted a message asking for donations of ‘protective gear’ and ‘communications equipment,” the Justice Department said, adding that on Jan. 4, Nordean posted a video on social media which he captioned, “Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us.”
In an FBI affidavit, investigators also highlight a moment captured on video outside the Capitol in which Noreen is seen having a “brief exchange” with a man allegedly connected to the extremist Three Percenters militia group, Robert Gieswein. Moments later, say investigators, Gieswein was allegedly pat of one of the first group of rioters to breach the Capitol building through a broken window.
Prior to former charging him, the FBI had identified Noreen in an affidavit filed in connection with charges brought last month against on of the leaders of the Proud Boys, Joseph Biggs, in which prosecutors noted that both men were seen in videos leading a large crowd of other Proud Boys members toward the Capitol leading up to the riot.
A separate indictment against Proud Boys members Dominic Pezzola and William Pepe accused the two men of conspiring together to obstruct law enforcement seeking to protect the Capitol. Investigators say both men were part of a group that assaulted law enforcement and removed metal barricades on the Capitol grounds, with Pezzola ripping away a police officer’s riot shield that he later allegedly used to break through a window in the front of the Capitol.
“The boss of the country said, “People of the country, come on down, let people know what you think,” Pezzola’s lawyer, Michael Scibetta, said in an interview with Reuters. “The logical thinking was ‘He invited us down.” Scibetta did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Neither Pepe nor Biggs have entered pleas or have attorneys listed in their cases yet.
The most significant conspiracy charges leveled by the Justice Department to date, however, have been in their indictments against Thomas Caldwell, Donovan Crowl, and Jessica Watkins, who investigators say are affiliated with the anti-government Oath Keepers.
Prosecutors allege that the three mounted an “operation” leading up to Jan. 6 in order to interfere with the counting of the Electoral College vote, which involved “recruiting as large a following as possible” to travel to D.C. and forcibly storm the Capitol.
“Evidence uncovered in the course of the investigation demonstrates that not only did CALDWELL, CROWL, WATKINS, and others conspire to forcibly storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 — the communicated with one another in advance of the incursion and planned their attack,” the indictment said.
In an interview with The New Yorker, Crowl admitted to being inside the Capitol, saying he was there to “do security” for “VIPs”. Watkins, in a separate interview with a local Ohio outlet, said the riot was “the most beautiful thing I ever saw until we started hearing glass smash.”
Prosecutors say messages they obtained showed that prior to their arrival in Washington, Caldwell sent a text recommending that the group say at a nearby hotel that “would allow us to hunt at night.”
Even more alarming were alleged exchanges flagged by prosecutors that took place during the attack itself.
Investigators say they obtained an audio recording of Watkins and other unidentified Oath Keepers speaking on a Zello channel called “Stop The Steal J6,” where Watkins is heard saying “We have a good group. We have about 30-40 of us. We are sticking together and sticking to the plan.”
Separately, Caldwell received a series of Facebook messages during the attack, including one in which an unidentified individual said, “All members are in the tunnels under the capital seal them in. Turn on gas.”
After Caldwell posted a message saying “Inside,” he received several other messages, including one saying, “Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down,” and directions such has “Go through the back house chamber doors facing N left down hallway down steps,” according to the Department of Justice affidavits.
The indictments against both the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members made repeated references to “persons known and unknown,” suggesting that prosecutors are likely to bring more charges as they advance their investigations in the coming weeks and months — with department officials saying act much more serious charges of “seditious conspiracy” are likely to be leveled against certain rioters “very soon.”
The Former Occupational Therapist Woman
January 25, 2021: WTOL 11 updated their article: “Former Cleveland schools charged for alleged role in riot at U.S. Capitol.” It was written by Dave “Dino” DeNatale, Phil Trexler and Will Ujek.
A former occupational therapist for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has been charged for her role in the riots and breach at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. last week.
According to documents filed in United States District Court, 49-year-old Christine Priola faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and unlawful activities on Capitol grounds.
Priola was freed on a $20,000 personal bond following her initial court appearance Thursday afternoon via Zoom in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. She was ordered to be placed on electronic monitoring in her home and is not permitted to travel.
She only uttered “Yes, your honor” during the 20 minute hearing. She faces up to two years in prison, if convicted. Two federal public defenders were assigned to Priola, who quit her job a day after the riots.
Priola was arrested by FBI agents at her house on Thursday morning. She is currently in the custody of U.S. Marshalls and is scheduled to appear for a hearing in front of the U.S. Federal Magistrate William Baughman on Thursday afternoon.
Last Friday, 3News cameras spotted authorities from the FBI, U.S. Marshalls Service, and Willoughby Police Department taking several file boxes and a large plastic bag of unknown materials from Priola’s Lake County house. Officials also searched the home’s garage and vehicles before leaving the scene around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
Priola resigned from her position with the CMSD last Thursday. In her resignation letter, she cited her desire to switch career paths to focus on exposing human trafficking and pedophilia and not wanting to take a COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to in-person school. The letter came only after social media users linked her to photos take of a violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump that stormed the U.S. Capitol and forced lawmakers into hiding in an attempt to overturn the presidential election.
Priola filed her resignation, which includes conspiratorial beliefs, Thursday, to the Human Resources Department for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Occupational therapists generally work with special needs students.
In her letter, Priola also said she did not support paying union dues that she claims are used to “fund people and groups that support the killing of unborn children.”
“Questions raised today about a former CMSD employee’s alleged involvement in the riots at the U.S. Capitol this week have also raised questions about the District’s position on such behaviors,” district spokesperson Rosann Canfora said in an email Friday.
“Whole CMSD deeply believes in the right of any individual to peacefully protest, as many did on the Capitol plaza on Wednesday afternoon, the District deeply condemns the actions of those involved in the riots inside the Capitol and on the Capitol ground. The right of peaceful protest, as protected by the first amendment, is a foundation of our democracy. The forcible takeover and willful destruction of our government is not.”
The union released a statement from Cleveland Teacher’s Union President Shari Obrenski.
“The Cleveland Teachers Union strongly condemns the violent attack on our democratic institutions that occurred this week. Rioters who broke the law should be held fully accountable. Our national affiliate has called for the immediate removal of President Trump for instigating this assault on our country.
“We are aware of reports of Cleveland teachers who engaged in rioting in the Capitol. We take these allegations very seriously, and if true, they must be held accountable.
“While we support the right to peaceful protest, what happened inside the Capitol on Wednesday was not a protest, it was an insurrection. It is the exact opposite of what we teach our students. Anyone who participated must bear the very serious consequences of their actions.”
An Affidavit In Support of a Criminal Complaint was written by David Kasulones, a Deputy United State Marshal with the United States Marshals Service, Cleveland, Ohio. The Criminal Complaint was sworn by telephone after submission of electronic means to Honorable G. Michael Harvey, United States Magistrate Judge.
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
I, David Kasaulones, a Deputy United States Marshal with the United States Marshals Service, Cleveland Ohio, being duly sworn, depose and state as follows.
AGENT BACKGROUND
I am an investigative or law enforcement officer of the United States within the meaning of 18 U.S.C 2510(7); that is, an officer of the United States who is empowered by law to conduct investigations of, and to make arrests for, the offenses enumerated in 18 U.S.C. 2516. I have been trained in advanced investigative techniques and have satisfied all requirements defined by the Federal Criminal Investigator Classification established by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
I am a Deputy Marshal with the United States Marshal Service (USMS), Department of Justice (DOJ) and as such, am an investigative or law enforcement officer of the United States within the meaning of Rule 41(a)(2)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. I am engaged in the enforcement of criminal laws and is within the category authorized by the Attorney General to request and execute search warrants pursuant to Title 18 U.S.C. 3052 and 3107; and DOJ Regulations set forth at Title 28 C.F.R. 0.85 and 60.2(a).
I have been a Deputy U.S. Marshal since June 1994 and attained a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. I have successfully completed training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to include: USMS Basic Deputy U.S. Marshal Training, Federal Criminal Investigator Training, Advanced Deputy U.S. Marshal Training, and USMS Supervisory and Leadership Training. I also successfully attended the training at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Quantico, Virginia for the Basic Joint Terrorism Task Force Program. As such I am assigned as a Task Force Officer (TFO) with the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division in Cleveland, Ohio. I have conducted numerous federal criminal investigations and assisted in numerous prosecutions.
Over the course of my employment as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, I have conducted and participated in multiple criminal investigations that have resulted in arrests for criminal offenses. These crimes resulted in subsequent convictions in Federal Courts.
PURPOSE OF AFFIDAVIT
This affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of establishing probable cause to believe that CHRISTINE PRIOLA has violated Title 18 U.S.C. 1752, Restricted Buildings or Grounds; Title 40 U.S.C. 5401(e)(2)(A) and (D), Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds; Disorderly Conduct; and Title 40 U.S.C. 5104(f), Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds, Parades, Assemblages and Displays of Flags, as set forth below.
A. Title 18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(2): Restricted Building or Grounds; Whoever knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;
B. Title 40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2): Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds; An individual or group of individuals may not willfully and knowingly (A) enter or remain on the floor of either House of Congress or in any cloakroom or lobby adjacent to that floor, in the Rayburn Room of the House of Representatives, or in the Marble Room of the Senate, unless authorized to do so pursuant to rules adopted, or an authorization give, by that House; or (D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in the building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; and
C. Title 40 U.S.C. 5104(1)(2): Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds: A person may not display in the Grounds a flag, banner, or device deigned or adapted to bring into public notice a party, organization or movement.
The statements contained in this affidavit are based in part on: information provided by FBI Special Agents, Task Force Officers and FBI Analysts, written reports about this and other investigation that I have received, directly or indirectly, from other law enforcement agents, information gathered from the results of physical surveillance conducted by law enforcement agents, reporting by eye witnesses, independent investigation and analysis by FBI agents/analysts and computer forensic professionals, and my expertise, training and background as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of securing a criminal complaint, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning the investigation. Instead, I have set forth only the facts that I believe or necessary to establish the necessary foundation for the requested complaint.
JURISDICTION
This Court has jurisdiction to issue the requested warrant because it is a “court of competent jurisdiction” as defined by 18 U.S.C. 2711. 18 U.S.C. 2703(a), (b)(1)(A), and (c)(1)(A). Specifically, the Court is “a district court of the United States … that- has jurisdiction over the offense being investigated.” 18. U.S.C. 2711(3)(A)(i). As discussed more fully below the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is investigating this case, which, among other things, involve possible violations of violated 18 U.S.C. 1752, Restricted Buildings or Grounds; Title 40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2)(A)and(D), Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds, Parades, Assemblages and Display of Flags. The conduct at issue includes an overt act in the District of Columbia, in the form of entering into Congress on January 6, 2021, as part of the mob that disrupted the proceedings of Congress, engaged in property damage and theft, and caused physical injury.
BASIS FOR PROBABLE CAUSE
The U.S. Capitol, which is located at First Street, SE, in Washington, D.C., is secured 24 hours a day by U.S. Capitol Police. Restrictions around the U.S. Capitol include permanent and temporary security barriers and posts manned by U.S. Capitol Police. Only authorized people with appropriate identification are allowed inside the U.S. Capitol.
On January 6, 2021, the exterior plaza of the U.S. Capitol was closed to members of the public.
On January 6, 2021, a joint session of the United States Congress convened at the United States Capitol, which is located at First Street, SE, in Washington, D.C. Specifically, elected members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate were meeting in separate chambers of the Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College of the 2020 Presidential Election, which had taken place on November 3, 2020. The joint session began approximately 1:00 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence, was present and presiding in the Senate chamber.
With the joint session underway and with Vice President Pence presiding, a large crowd gathered outside the U.S. Capitol. Temporary and permanent barricades surround the exterior of the U.S. Capitol building, and U.S. Capitol Police were present and attempting to keep the crowd away from the Capitol building and the proceedings underway inside.
At approximately 2:00 p.m., certain individuals in the crowd forced their way through, up, and over the barricades and officers of the U.S. Capitol Police, and the crowd advanced to the exterior facade of the building. At such time, the joint sessions was still underway and the exterior doors and windows of the U.S. Capitol were locked or otherwise secured.
Members of the U.S. Congress attempted to maintain order and keep the crows from entering the Capitol; however, at approximately 2:15 p.m., individuals in the crowd forced entry into the U.S. Capitol, including by breaking windows. Shortly thereafter, members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, including the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence, were instructed to — and did – evacuate the chambers. Accordingly, the joint session of the United States Congress was effectively suspended until approximately 8:00 p.m.
During national news coverage of the aforementioned events, video footage, which appeared to be captured on mobile devices of persons present on the scene depicted evidence of scores of individuals inside the U.S. Capitol building, without authority to be there, in violation of federal laws.
United States Capitol Police (“Capitol Police”) learned that individuals entered the restricted floor area of the Senate chambers and took photographs of the evacuation of the Senate chambers that were required based on the unauthorized entrance. Upon making entry, individuals were observed carrying signs, flags, banners, and other items not authorized to be carried in the Senate chambers. The individuals gaining unauthorized access to the Senate chambers were also observed using smart cellular telephones and other electronic recording and storage devices to record, photograph, and broadcast their actions over social media.
These photos and electronic images were circulated on numerous news media platforms, some of which showed an individual holding a sign reading, in part, “The Children Cry Out for Justice.” and pointing a smart cellular telephone device at an individual occupying the seat of the Vice President of the United States. The female appears to be holding the digital media device in a manner consistent with taking photographs of videos, both of which are capable of being digitally stored and disseminated. The female was wearing a red winter coat and distinctive pants that appeared to have the name “Trump” and other words written on the leg.
On or about January 8, 2021, via a Twitter post, the Cleveland Division of the FBI received an anonymous tip that Christine PRIOLA was the female depicted in the photographs described above. In the Twitter post photograph, PRIOLA is seen standing inside the U.S. Senate Chambers holding up a sign under one arm and mobile (smart) phone. She is wearing a red coat and distinctive pants. The Twitter post also identified PRIOLA as being employed with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD).
Also on or about January 8, 2021, I identified PRIOLA as Christine Marie PRIOLA of Willoughby, Ohio, by comparing photographs from the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway with photographs from January 6, 2021. I received verification from the CMSD that PRIOLA resigned from her position with the CSMD in a letter dated January 7, 2021.
Based on the information described above, a search of PRIOLA’s house was authorized on January 8, 2021 by a judicial officers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. On January 8, 2021, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at PRIOLA’s residence and recovered a laptop computer; two desktop computers, several thumb drives, and an Apple iPhone. I am further informed that agents recovered clothing, a sign and other materials with the photographs of PRIOLA taken on January 2021.
During the search, PRIOLA directed agents to the kitchen where she gave them the above-identified iPhone and confirmed it was hers. Subsequent forensic examination confirmed that the T-Mobile account associated with the iPhone was registered in PRIOLA’s name.
During a subsequent search of PRIOLA’s Apple iPhone on or about January 12, 2021, agents were unable to recover data for photos, videos, chats, or messages from approximately January 4 through January 7, 2021. Agents were also unable to recover device location data for January 6, 2021, from 5:40AM to 4:17PM. This data indicated that the device was utilizing a WiFi system located at GPS coordinates (38.892002, – 77.006646). According to Google Maps, these coordinates correspond to a location just northeast of the U.S. Capitol building.
Based on my training and experience, and my knowledge of the facts uncovered in this investigation to date. I believe that at no time on or before January 6, 2021, was PRIOLA granted permission or authorized by rule to enter or remain on the floor of either House of Congress, nor did she, at any time, have authorization to assemble, display flags, or parade on the Grounds or in the Capitol Building.
CONCLUSION
Based on the above factual allegations, I submit that probably cause exists to believe that CHRISTINE PRIOLA, has violated Title 18 U.S.C. 1752, Restricted Buildings or Grounds, Title 40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2)(A) and (D), Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds; Disorderly Conduct; and Title 40 5104(f), Unlawful Activities on Capitol Grounds, Parades, Assemblages and Display of Flags.
July 26, 2022: United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia posted a press release: “Ohio Woman Pleads Guilty to Felony Charge for Actions in Jan. 6 Capitol Breach”
Defendant Illegally Entered Senate Chamber
An Ohio woman pleaded guilty today to a felony charge for her actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Her actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Christine Priola, 50, of Willoughby, Ohio, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to obstruction of an official proceeding. According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Priola made her way to the U.S. Capitol grounds, carrying a sign expressing her views. Once on the grounds, she illegally entered the restricted area on the east side of the Capitol Building.
Priola joined the front lines of the riot, climbed the steps, and entered the Capitol Building through the East Rotunda Doors. She went inside soon after the first rioters overcame law enforcement officers guarding the entrance. She moved to the Senate chamber and entered the restricted floor area. While in the chamber, she carried the sign. She was in the Senate chamber for about 10 minutes. All told, she was inside the Capitol Building for approximately 30 minutes.
Sometime between Jan. 6 and Jan. 12, 2021, Priola deleted her cellphone data for photos, videos, chats, and messages from approximately Jan. 4 through 7, 2021. At the time of the riots, she was employed with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She resigned in a letter dated Jan. 7, 2021.
Priola was arrested in Ohio on Jan. 14, 2021. She is to be sentenced on October 28, 2022. She faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The FBI’s Cleveland Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance from the U.S. Marshals’ Service for the Northern District of Ohio, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the 18 months since January 6, 2021, more than 850 individuals have been arrested in nearly 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 260 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
The Confederate Flag Carrying Guy
February 9, 2023: NBC News posted: “Man Who Carried a Confederate Flag In the Capitol On Jan. 6 is Sentenced to 3 years” It was written by Daniel Barnes.
A Delaware man who carried a Confederate flag through the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday.
Kevin Seefried, 53, was convicted on five charges stemming from his participation in the riot, including obstruction of an official proceeding — the joint session of Congress that was working to certify the Electoral College vote that day.
The government had sought a 70-month sentence for Seefried, while his lawyers asked for one year in prison.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump-appointed judge who oversaw the trial, told Seefried it was “shocking” and “outrageous” that he brought a Confederate flag into the Capitol. He also criticized Seefried for using a flag to jab a Black U.S. Capitol Police officer during the confrontation in the building.
“I hope you realize how offenses if is,” McFadden said.
An emotional Seefried addressed the court before being sentenced and apologized, saying that he made a terrible mistake and his family has suffered for it.
“I thought that standing there and using my voice was protected under freedom of speech, but I know I crossed the line,” he said. “I never wanted to send a message of hate.”
Photographs of Seefried walking through the Capitol with his Confederate flag quickly became some of the most well-known images from the Jan. 6 assault. Seefried brought the flag “as a symbol of protest, but had not considered the logic of those who see the flag as a symbol of American racism,” his lawyers wrote in their sentencing memorandum filed last week.
“Now that photos of him with the flag have become iconic symbols of the horror of January 6, Mr. Seefried completely understands the harm he caused,” the wrote, adding that Seefried is aware that the community and even history, may view him as a racist.”
Seefried was the first rioter in the building to interact with U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who led Seefried and other rioters away from the entrance to the Senate chamber, prosecutors said. Goodman had ordered Seefried to leave the building. In response, Seefried asked Goodman where the members of Congress were and “jabbed the base of the flagpole at him,” prosecutors said.
“You can shoot me man, but we’re coming in,” Seefried told Goodman, according to prosecutors.
Seefried attended the riot with his son, Hunter, 24, who was charged alongside him and was already sentenced in October to two years in prison. During Hunter’s sentencing, his lawyer blamed the elder Seefried for allegedly pressuring his son to Storme the Capitol. Kevin Seefried was granted permission by a judge to travel to Washington to attend his son’s sentencing but was not seen in the courtroom during the October hearing.
More than 900 people have been arrested in connection with Jan. 6 so far, resulting in nearly 500 guilty pleas and dozens of significant prison sentences. The investigation is ongoing.
February 9, 2023: CNN Politics posed: “Man who used Confederate flags against Capitol Police officer on January 6, sentenced to 3 years in prison” It was written by Holmes Lybrand.
A Delaware man who carried a large Confederate flag inside the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riot and was part of the mob that chased a US Capitol Police officer has been sentenced to three years in prison.
DC District Judge Trevor McFadden found Kevin Seefried guilty in June of each of the five charges he faced, including obstructing an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and entering and remaining in a restricted area.
During the bench trial before McFadden, USCP Officer Eugene Goodman testified that Seefried had jabbed the base of the flag pole toward him multiple times to try and push him away. Seefried, Goodman said, eventually moved back to rejoin the mob after the officer didn’t move.
According to Goodman, Seefried “was saying things like F**k you, I’m not leaving, where are the members at, where are they counting the votes.”
Seefried recalled in an interview with that FBI that he told Goodman “You can shoot me, man, but we’re coming in,” according to prosecutors.
Before handing down his sentence, McFadden said it was “outrageous” and “egregious” that Seefried brought the Confederal flag to the Capitol that day and “used it to jab at an African American officer.”
“You participate in a national embarrassment,” the judge said.
Goodman, who has been hailed for his actions on January 6, eventually led the group of rioters away from the Senate chamber and up a flight of stairs to a line of additional offices.
In comments to the court Thursday, Seefried apologized to the officers protecting the Capitol that day and said he was “deeply sorry for my part in January 6.”
“I never wanted to send a message of hate,” Seefried said.
Seefried’s son, Hunter, who was with his father in the Capitol that day, was convicted of several charges he faces and sentenced in October to serve two years in prison.
Eugene Ohm, Kevin Seefried’s attorney, said during the trial that his client wasn’t aware the Electoral College votes were being certified that day and therefore couldn’t have tried to intentionally obstruct the congressional proceeding.
February 9, 2023: The BBC reported: “Capitol rioter who jabbed Confederate flag at black cop jailed”
A rioter who grabbed a Confederate flag at a black policeman while storming the U.S. Capitol two years ago has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Kevin Seefried, 53, was convicted in June of obstruction Congress and unlawful parading.
Images of him bearing the banner of the slaveholding South during the US Civil War in the seat of American democracy ricocheted around the world.
A judge in Washington DC called Seefried’s actions “outrageous.”
Seefried thrust the base of the flagpole at US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who is black, several times without making contact, prosecutors said.
During Thursday’s sentencing, Judge Trevor McFadden noted this incident and said: “I hope you realize how deeply offenses, how troubling it is.”
Mr. Goodman has previously recalled that Seefried told him: “You can shoot me, man, but we’re coming in.”
Prosecutors said Seefried was the 12th rioter to enter the Capitol that day, coming in through a broken window, and that he remained inside for 25 minutes.
The drywall mechanic from Laurel, Delaware, told the court he regretted his actions and had “crossed the line” during the raid on the Capitol on January 2021.
“My intention was to use my voice,” he told the judge. “I never wanted to send a message of hate.”
Judge McFadden found Seefried guilty of other charges, including entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct.
The three-year sentence is shorter than the nearly six years that was sought by prosecutors.
Seefried’s son, Hunter, was also at the Capitol during the riot. He was convicted of obstruction and sentenced to two years in prison last year.
Both had traveled to Washington DC to attend a rally hosted on the day of the riot by then-President Donald Trump, who riled up supporters with unfounded claims that Joe Biden stole the election of November 2020.
More than 940 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the breach on the U.S. Capitol. and nearly 500 have pleaded guilty so far.
February 9, 2021: CBS News reported: “Kevin Seefried, Jan. 6 rioter who carried a Confederate flag through the Capitol, sentenced to 3 years in prison.” It was written by Robert Legare, and Scott McFarlane.
The pro-Trump rioter who marched through the halls of Congress while wielding a Confederate flag on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on to 36 months behind bars on Thursday, more than two years after photos of him became some of the most widely recognized images of the attack on the Capitol.
Kevin Seegfried, 53, was convicted in June 2022 after a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who found him of multiple charges, including obstruction Congress, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and unlawful parading. His son, Hunter, was also convicted on the obstruction charge, but acquitted on other counts. Hunter was sentenced two years in prison last year.
McFaden handed down the elder Seefried’s three-year sentence in court on Thursday, calling his conduct “outrageous” and “especially shocking.” Seefried, who must also serve one year on probation upon his release, told the judge he “crossed the line” and regretted his actions.
The sentence was shorter than the 70 months, or nearly six years, that prosecutors had sought.
The Seefried’s traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. Prosecutors say they were among the first protestors to then breach the Capitol and enter through a broken window, remaining inside for 25 minutes. Kevin Seefried was photographed a short time later with the Confederate flag. According to court documents, he said he brought the flag from his home in Delaware, where it usually hands outside.
Handing down his sentence, McFadden noted that Seefried confronted U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, a Black man, near the Senate chamber and jabbed his flagpole at him.
“Sir, I hope you realize how deeply offensive, how troubling it is,” McFadden said.
Speaking in court and becoming emotional, Seefried said he was “deeply sorry” for his actions.
“I had no idea that any of this would ever happen,” he said. “My intention was to use my voice … I never wanted to send a message of hate.”
Defense attorney Eugene Ohm emphasized that his client turned himself in voluntarily and exposed no violent rhetoric on social media, in contrast to some Jan. 6 defendants. “As soon as he figured out what he had done, he acted remorseful,” Ohm said, despite the fact that Seefried fought the charges at trial.
Goodman, who testified during the trial last year, said he was inside the Capitol Rotunda during the attack when a group that included Seefried yelled “Where the member at?” They threatened Goodman taunting, “What are you going to do, shoot us?”
Goodman has since been recognized for leading the mob away from the Senate chambers and toward an area of the building where there was a larger law enforcement presence. The officer described Seefried as angry and ‘The complete opposite of pleasant.”
In court documents filed ahead of sentencing, prosecutors urged the court to impose a stiff sentence, arguing that Seefried “stood resolute with the rioters, who demanded to know the location of the United Stats senators and representatives who gathered to certify the votes of the Electoral College.”
“During their confrontation, Seefried thrust the butt of his flagpole at Officer Goodman,” prosecutors wrote. “That flagpole was not only a weapon capable of causing serious injury; a Confederate Battle lag was affixed to it and it was brandished by a man standing at the front of a volatile, growing mob towards a solitary, Black police officer.”
Seefried’s public defenders wrote their client expressed “immediate and unwavering” remorse for his actions during the Capitol breach, explaining he brought the Confederate flag to the protest and not to express any form of racism.
“He is ashamed, mindful that the community and even history may view him as a racist. And he knows that he must be punished for his role in the events of that infamous day,” the defense team argued in court documents ahead of Thursday’s hearing.
Despite knowing he was entering the Capitol that day, Seefried’s attorneys wrote that the defendant — a construction worker — did not intend to obstruct Congress’ work, but to make his view known at the behest of the former president.
“Crowds around the Seefrieds were shouting that the President was going to meet them at the Capitol,” the defense attorneys argued in court papers, highlighting that the fact that Trump told his supporters he was going to march to the Capitol with them. “The fallout for heeding Mr. Trump’s call has been devastating: Mr. Seefried’s wife has left him, he is headed to prison and he will be destitute when he is released. Worst of all, his beloved son is in prison.”
“He cannot help but be afraid to ever trust a politician again,” his lawyers wrote.
October 24, 2022: NBC Washington posted: “Man who Stormed Capitol With Dad Gets 2 Years in Prison”
A Delaware man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with his Confederate flag-toting father was sentenced on Monday to two years behind bars.
Hunter Seefried, 24, was convicted alongside his father of felony and misdemeanor charges by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in June. Hunter and Kevin Seefried opted for a bench trial, which is decided by a judge, rather than have their case be heard by a jury.
The father and son traveled to Washington from their home in Laurel, Delaware, to hear Trump’s speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. They were among the first rioters to approach the building near the Senate Wing Door, according to prosecutors.
After watching other rioters use a police shield and a wooden plank to break a window, Hunter Seefried used a gloved fist to clear a large shard of glass in one of the broken windowpanes, prosecutors said. The judge found the two other rioters had destroyed the window before Seefried cleared the piece of glass.
Widely published photographs showed Kevin Seefried carrying a Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol after he and Hunter, then 22, entered the building through a broken window.
An attorney for Hunter Seefried had asked for probation and home detention instead of prison time. He said in court paper that his client only when to the Capitol that day because his father pushed him to join. And he noted that the son never hurt or threatened anyone at the Capitol.
“Hunter is a decent, hardworking and caring young man, who was misled and got caught up in the unfortunate events of January 6, 2021.” attorney Edson Bostic said in an email. “He is very remorseful and wished he could relive and change his behavior that day.”
Man Sentenced to 20 Years For Attacking Police in Jan. 6 Riot At the U.S. Capitol
August 5, 2024: Law & Crime reported: “Jan. 6 defendant who climbed rioters ‘like human scaffolding’ to stomp on heads of police deserves harsh sentence: Feds”
Federal prosecutors have urged a judge to sentence “one of the most violent rioters” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, David Nicholas Dempsey, to 21 years in prison, highlighting a recent sentencing memorandum that Dempsey clawed his way through the mob by climbing atop his fellow rioters and using them “like human scaffolding” in order to thrust himself to the mouth of a crowded tunnel where he used his hands, feet, flagpoles, crutches, pepper spray, pieces of broken furniture and “anything else he could get his hands on” as weapons.
“Dempsey’s violence reached such extremes that, at one point, he attacked a fellow rioter who was trying to disarm him,” prosecutors wrote in a 46-page sentencing memorandum entered Aug. 2 in federal court in Washington, D.C.”
Dempsey was arrested in California in August 2021 and an indictment was unveiled against him in September 2021. He was charged with felony obstruction of an official proceeding, felony assaulting, resisting or impeding certain offers using a dangerous weapon, felony obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, felony entering or remaining, disorderly and disruptive conduct and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.
He struck a plea deal with prosecutors in January and pleaded guilty to two assault with a dangerous weapon charges.
Court records show that on Jan. 6, Dempsey doused police with a torrent of pepper spray including one officer who, just moments before, had his face mask compromised by a different rioter. Dempsey attacked another police officer ferociously with a metal crutch. He cracked that officer’s protective shield and gas mask, forcing the officer to “collapse in a daze, his ears ringing.”
The blow by Dempsey also cut the officer’s head and caused a concussion.
Dempsey swung “pole-like weapons more than 20 times,” and sprayed chemical agents on at least three distinct occasions. He hurled objects at police at least 10 times and was seen “stomping on the heads of police officers as he perched above them some five times. He attempted to seal a riot shield and police baton while that the Lower West Tunnel and he did it all while screaming treats and insults, prosecutors say.
He had arrived in Washington, D.C, on Jan. 5 and records show he flew from California to Michigan, met two people in Detroit and they drove the rest of the way. His driving companions were not charged but prosecutors said one of them assisted Dempsey with getting an incriminating video temporarily removed from YouTube. That person did not enter the Capitol nor assault police, according to prosecutors.
He donned a BulletSafe tactical vest, helmet, camouflage-style pants, a long sleeve shirt, sunglasses and an American flag gaiter around his neck, mouth and nose.
Remarkably, before he set out on his one-man melee, prosecutors told the federal judge who will sentence Dempsey that they found video of him giving an interview in front of a wooden makeshift gallows erected on Capitol grounds. The structure bore a sign that said, “This is Art” and it hung from a noose.
In a transcript of that interview shared with the court, Dempsey seethed:
“This isn’t just art. This is necessary […] No, we don’t need to waste taxpayer dollars on these worthless cretins who are treasonous to our country. We need to decriminalize help and marijuana, turn all that s — into rope when where does with it, and then string all of these f —‘ worthless bastards up from the top of those [pointing to the gallows], these treelines, the rafters, the rooftops, the statues. I don’t care where they go.
String ’em up and string ’em up high. And let everybody know that this is what happens when you are a treasonous piece of s– who doesn’t belong in this f— ‘ country and has this f—‘ country’s worst objective at heart. So, I’m 100% with it.
I say we should have been doing this a long f—‘ time ago. Them worthless f—‘s holes Jerry Nadler, f—‘ Pelosi, uh Clapper, Comey, f—‘ all those pieces of garbage, you know, Obama, all of these dues. Clinton, f— all these pieces of s—. That’s what they need [pointing to the gallows]. They don’t need a jail cell. they need to hang from these motherf—–while everybody videotapes it and f—” spreads it on YouTube, Bitchute, or whatever f— ‘other social media there is.
And they need to get the point across, the time for peace talk is over. All that’s s— about being complacent, f— all that s—. For four years, five years really, they’ve been f—–g demonizing us, belittling us, hurting us, killing us, f—- doing everything they can to stop what this is [referring to the rally for former President Trump] and people are sick of the s— . You know, and uh, hopefully one day soon, we really have someone hanging from one of these mothersf—- [pointing to the gallows] just line they do in them other countries.”
Dempsey joined a large crowd that formed at the back of the tunnel around 4 p.m. and “climbed atop the shoulders, arms, and backs of other rioters to get to the front of the line,” the sentencing memo said.
Once there, he threw a short pole-like object at police, hitting one officer as he taunted him. He grabbed a police riot shield and attempted to throw it. Then, moments later, he hurled a flagpole at officers who were crammed into the tunnel. Footage showed Dempsey grabbing an officer’s baton and trying to yank it away. He also grasped framing at the side and top of the tunnel to steady himself above the officer’s heads before he began “stomping on the officers at the front line.”
After minutes of stomping on their heads and shields, he took a long pole and started prodding officers with it, prosecutors say.
As one fellow rioter tried to take the long pole from Dempsey, prosecutors say he “stomped” in that rioter too.
He proceeded to unleash bursts of pepper spray into the tunnel and, at one point, chucked a bottle containing a “unknown milky substance” at police which splashed onto a closed circuit security camera.
“That obscured the recording of the events in the tunnel, and hampered the government’s investigation of the events at the tunnel,” prosecutors wrote on Aug 2.
For more than a half hour, Dempsey beat police and waived rioters forward. He told officers they were “pedophile supporting oath breakers” and screamed at them to “come out here.”
He retreated just once to rinse pepper spray from his eyes and face before he returned with a new gator on. Then he hurled broken pieces of furniture into the tunnel.
Prosecutors urged a stiff sentence in light of these actions and Dempsey’s criminal history.
The former construction worker and fast food employee pleaded no contest to second-degree burglary in 2009, in Los Angeles and was sentenced to 16 months. In 2012, he pleaded no contest to conspiracy and grand theft in Burbank and, in 2014, pleaded no contest to burglary charges again. In 2017 he plead no contest after he broke into a Van Nuys cellphone store, stole property and then fled. When the police stopped Dempsey in 2017, prosecutors say he pretended to cooperate before fleeing in his car at speeds of over 100 mph.
More burglary charges and no contest or nolo contenders please followed in 2020 and 2021 including one solo contender plea to assault with a caustic chemical in Los Angeles. In 2019 when a peaceful protest against then-President Donald Trump had formed at the Santa Monica Pier, Dempsey used bear spray on anti-Trump protesters at short range. Prosecutors said he also punched a demonstrator and hit him over the head with a skateboard. At another political protest in 2020, he sprayed an individual with pepper spray while holding them to the ground. Dempsey also hit that person with a metal bat.
Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 210 to 262 months, and they note that many of Dempsey’s prior convictions were set aside under a change to California’s penal code that restores the rights of convicted felons. On Friday, prosecutors say the U.S. Probation Office recommended a revised downward sentence as a result.
But “without having seen Dempsey’s filings on these petitions in California, the government is left to guess exactly how such relief was sought, let alone granted, when Dempsey had been charged with the commission of offenses in this case August 25, 2021,” the government wrote.
Dempsey appears to have “scurried off to a California state court in an attempt to undo his atrocious criminal history because he is faced with the impending consequences of his actions on January 6,” they said.
Dempsey has not filed his proposing sentencing memorandum yet but it should be imminent. Dempsey asked for an extension on Aug. 1 to complete it by Monday and that request was granted by presiding U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan.
August 8, 2024: ‘Political violence personified:” Jan. 6 defendant gets 20 years for string of vicious attacks on Police” Politico reported.
A California man who cracked the face shield of one police officer, unloaded pepper spray on others and bludgeoned countless officers with poles, boards and even is feet was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday, the longest sentence handed down to any participant in the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors called David Dempsey ‘political violence personified,” and U.S. District Judge Royce Lambert agreed, saying that even on a day that “will be seared into our nation’s memory as a bloodbath,” Dempsey’s conduct was “exceptionally egregious.”
One of the more than 1,400 people charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack — a violent assault by supporters of President Donald Trump seeking to prevent the transfer of power to President Joe Biden — only former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has been sentenced to a lengthier prison term: 22 years. But Tarrio was not present at the Capitol that day. Rather, a jury convicted him of orchestrating a plan for his Proud Boys allies to breach the Capitol and help the larger mob overwhelm police.
Dempsey’s sentence outstrips even the one handed down to Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison last year for similarly orchestrating a plan to violently imped the transfer of power.
Not only did Dempsey, who pleased guilty to assault, persist in his violence for hours on Jan. 6, but he also came to the Capitol with a massive rap sheet that included other instances of political violence. Throughout the riot, Dempsey placed himself at the center of the most violent episodes, particularly in the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace tunnel, the site of the most extreme violence that day. There he climbed atop other rioters to research the police line and welded wooden poles and other objects to attempt to injure them.
Several of the officers who defend the Capitol that day sat at the front of the courtroom observing the proceedings, watching silently as prosecutors recounted Dempseys intense assaults. One officer who bore the brunt of Dempsey’s attack, Sgt. Jason Mastony, describe the moment that Dempsey bashed his head with a crutch, cracking his face shield and causing a gash.
“I collapse and caught myself agains the wall as my ears rang,” Mastony said in a written statement to the court.
Prosecutors pressed Lamberth to impose a steep sentence in part because Jan. 6 was not an aberration for Dempsey. He has repeatedly gotten violent during protest and has used chemical spray to disable counterprotestors. Prosecutors played a video of Dempsey using a skateboard to assault a protester at previous rallies, with some moments of violence prompting gaps in Lamberth’s courtroom.
When it was his turn to address the judge, Dempsey described a life of destitution and abuse as the source of his violence.
“Life has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows,” Dempsey said, reading from a letter.
He described negative interactions with police as fueling some of his anger, and he apologized to the officers he attacked, saying he had been consumed by emotion. He insisted he didn’t come to Washington that day “hellbent on violence,” or to overturn an election.
Dempsey’s sentence landed with a particular impact on his family, who were present in the courtroom, including his 7-year-old daughter. After the sentencing, the young girl pranced in the hallways while her mother cried. A family member said the girl had just celebrated her birthday Thursday and isn’t “able to understand what’s going on.”
Only a handful of other Jan. 6 rioters without ties to extremist groups have faced sentences of 10 or more years. They include Peter Schwartz, who had a similarly long rap sheet and received a 14-year sentence; Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, who drove a taser into the neck of D.C. police officer Michael Fanone; and Thomas Webster, a retired NYPD officer who attempted to gouge the eyes of a D.C. police officer during a particularly vicious brawl.
August 9, 2024: A California man with a history of political violence was sentenced on Friday to 20 years in prison for repeatedly attacking police with flagpoles and other makeshift weapons during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, NPR reported.
David Nicholas Dempsey’s sentence is among the longest among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. Prosecutors described him as one of the most violent members of the mob of Donald Trump supporter that attacked the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
Dempsey, who is from Van Nuys, stomped on police officers’ heads. He swung poles at officers defending a tunnel, struck an officer in the head with a metal crutch and attacked police with pepper spray and broken pieces of furniture, prosecutors said.
He climbed atop other rioters, using them like “human scaffolding” to reach officers guarding a tunnel entrance. He injured at least two police officers, prosecutors said.
“Your conduct on January 6th was exceptionally egregious,” U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Dempsey. “You did not get carried away in the moment.”
Dempsey pleaded guilty in January to two counts of assaulting police officers with a dangerous weapon.
Only former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has received a longer sentence in the Jan. 6 attack. Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years for orchestrating a plot to stop the peaceful transfer of power from Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
Dempsey called his conduct “reprehensible” and apologized to the police officer whom he assaulted.
“You were performing your duties, and I responded with hostility and violence,” he said before learning his sentence.
Justice Department prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of 21 years and 10 months for Dempsey, a former construction worker and fast-food restaurant employee. Dempsey’s violence was so extreme that he attacked a fellow rioter who was trying to disarm him, prosecutors wrote.
Defense attorney Amy Collins, who sought a sentence of 6 years and six months, described the government’s sentencing recommendation as “ridiculous.”
“It makes him a statistic,” she said. “It doesn’t consider the person he is, how much he has grown.”
Dempsey was wearing a tactical vest, a helmet, and an American flag gaiter covering his face when he attacked the police at a tunnel leading to the Lower West Terrace doors. He shot pepper spray at Metropolitan Police Department Phuson Nguyen just as another rioter yanked the officer’s gas mask, prosecutors wrote.
“The searing spray burned Detective Nyugen’s lungs, throat, eyes, and face and left him gasping for breath, fearing he might lose consciousness and be overwhelmed by the mob,” they wrote.
“I collapsed and caught myself against the wall as my ears rang. I was able to stand again and hold the line for a few more minutes until another assault by rioters pushed the police line back away from the threshold of the tunnel,”
Dempsey has been jailed since his arrest in August 2021.
Dempsey had a history of political violence
His criminal record in California includes convictions for burglary, theft and assault. The assault conviction stemmed from an October 2918, gathering near the Santa Monica Pier, where Dempsey attacked people peacefully demonstrating against then-President Trump, prosecutors said.
“The peaceful protest turned violent as Dempsey took a canister of bear spray from his pants and dispersed it at close range against several protestors,” they wrote, noting that Dempsey was sentenced to 200 days of jail time.
Dempsey engaged in at least three other acts of “vicious political violence” that didn’t led to criminal charges “for various reasons,” according to prosecutors. They said Dempsey struck a counter-protester over the head with a skateboard at a June 2019 rally in Los Angeles, used the same skateboard to assault someone at an August 2020 protest in Tujunga, California, and attacked a protester with pepper spray and a metal bat during a August 2020 protest in Beverly Hills, California.
More than 1,400 people have been charged with Jan. 6-related federal crimes. Over 900 of them have been convicted and sentenced, with roughly two-thirds reviewing terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to the 22 years that Tarrio received.
August 9, 2024: United States Attorney’s Office District of Columbia posted: “California Man Sentenced for Assaulting Law Enforcement with a Dangerous Weapon During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach”
A California man was sentenced to prison today after previously pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
David Dempsey, 37, of Santa Ana, California, was sentenced to 240 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Dempsey previously pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon on Jan. 4, 2024.
According to court documents, Dempsey traveled to Washington, D.C., with others from his home in California and, on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse. Dempsey was later interviewed standing near a wooden structure representing a hanging gallows, which was fitted with a noose and a sign stating, “This is Art.” Dempsey wore a black helmet, vest, sunglasses, and an American flag gaiter covering his neck, mouth, and nose.
During the interview, Dempsey was asked what he thought of this “work of art” (the gallows), to which he replied, in part: “This isn’t just art. This is necessary” and “Them worthless f—s–holes like f — Jerry Nadler, f — Pelosi, uh Clapper, Comey, f– all those pieces of garbage, you know Obama, all these dudes, Clinton — all these pieces of s –. That’s what they need. They don’t need a jail cell. They need to hang from these m — f– while everybody videotapes it and f— spreads it on YouTube, B — Tube or whatever social f– social media there is.”
Later, Dempsey walked with others towards the U.S. Capitol building and made his way to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on January 6th. Here, Dempsey joined the crowd, pushing into a line of police officers defending the Tunnel.
At about 3:36 p.m., Dempsey climbed atop other rioters’ shoulders, arms and backs to get to the front line. Upon reading the front, Dempsey threw a short pole-like object into the Tunnel, striking a police officer. Dempsey shouted, “F — you b — ass cops.” Dempsey then grabbed onto a police riot shield and continued to yell insults at police.
At approximately 3:57 p.m., Dempsey attempted to throw a flagpole at officers in the Tunnel, but his throw was inadvertently blocked by a police riot shield held by another rioter. He then grabbed onto an officer’s baton and attempted to pull it away. At about 3:59 p.m., Dempsey, using the Tunnel’s wooden frame as support, kicked the shields of law enforcement officers four times.
At about 4:01 p.m., Dempsey took a long pole from the crowd and swung it at officers in the Tunnel, striking their shields. He then used his foot push away a crowd member attempting to take the pole away from him. Court Documents say that a short while later, at about 4:07 p.m., Dempsey sprayed two separate bursts of pepper spray into the line of officers.
For the next several minutes, Dempsey continued his assault on officers in the Tunnel including by throwing water bottles at police, spraying pepper spray at officers, swinging a metal crutch, which struck police; swinging an aluminum people, which also struck police; through a folded-up metal pole; and swinging and throwing a long wooden pole, which struck police.
At about 4:42 p.m., Dempsey retreated from the crowd to rinse paper spray from his eyes and face. He then returned to the front line and swung a flagpole at the line of officers, striking an officer’s riot shield. Finally, at 5:03 p.m., Dempsey threw two objects at officers in the Tunnel.
The FBI arrested Dempsey on Aug. 26, 2021, in California.
Actor Jay Johnston of ‘Bob’s Burgers’ and other comedies pleads guilty in Jan. 6 case.
July 9, 2024: Actor Jay Johnson, known for his roles in Arrested Development, Bob’s Burgers and other TV and film comedies, has pleaded guilty to a felony charge over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. NPR reported.
Johnston, 55, was arrested in June of last year, charged with a felony count of interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder and several misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty on Monday to the felony civil disorder charge before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols — who is scheduled to sentence Johnston on Oct. 7.
On eyewitness video, Johnson, who stands well over 6 feet, initially seen filming protestors confronting police at a barricade as Congress met to consider electoral votes from the presidential election that resulted in former President Donald Trump’s loss.
As the protest escalated into an assault on the Capitol and lawmakers were forced to evacuate their chambers, the FBI said in an affidavit, Johnston joined a mass of people in a tunnel leading inside the building, where he used a stolen U.S. Capitol police riot shield to help shove police officer backward toward a door.
“This was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day,” the Justice Department said as it announced the guilty plea.
In the weeks after Jan. 6, authorities knew Johnston only as individual 247-AFO, a tall man in a black jacket wearing a camouflage neck gaiter — which he sometimes lifted above his nose, in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity. After the FBI published images of the person and asked the public to help identify him, the actor’s lawyer contacted the FBI National Threat Operations Center. Johnston was arrested in June 2023, after surrendering himself at the FBI Los Angeles field office.
Investigators said at least two other pieces of evidence helped link Johnston to the crime: he booked a three-night trip to Washington, D.C., returning to Los Angles on Jan. 7; and he texted a friend about his experience.
“The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess. Got maced and tear gassed and I found it quite untasted,” Johnston wrote in that text, which the FBI said it acquired from “three current or former associates” of the actor.
In his acting career, Johnson was a regular on the 1990’s HBO comedy Mr. Show with Bob and David and appeared in Anchorman to The Sarah Silverman Program and Men in Black II. But after his actions against police in 2021, the long-running Bob’s Burgers show cut ties with Johnston. Last fall, another actor replaced him as the voice of Italian restaurant owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. according to the Collider website.
The Justice Department said it has now filed charges against more than 1,450 people in dozens of states for their role in the deadly attack on the Capitol. Of that number, more than 880 have pleaded guilty and only three have been acquitted of all charges.
October 29, 2024: NPR posted: “Former ‘Bob’s Burgers’ actor sentenced to 1 year in prison for role in Capitol riot.”
An actor known for his roles in the television comedies Bob’s Burgers and Arrested Development was sentenced on Monday to one year in prison for his part in a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
Jay Johnston, 56, of Los Angeles, joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. Johnston also cracked jokes and interacted with other rioters as he used a cellphone to record the violence around him, prosecutors said.
Johnston expressed regret that he “made it more difficult for the police to do their job” on Jan. 6. He said he would never have guessed that a riot would erupt that day.
“That was because of my own ignorance, I believe,” he told U.S. District Judge Curt Nichols. “If I had been more political, I could have seen that coming, perhaps.”
The judge, who sentenced Johnston to one year and one day of imprisonment, allowed him to remain free after the hearing and report to prison at a date to be determined. Nichols said he recognizes that Johnston will miss out on caring for his 13-year-old autistic daughter while he is behind bars.
“But his conduct on January 6th was quite problematic. Reprehensible, really,” the judge said.
Johnston pleaded guilty in July to interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, a felony punishable by a maximum prison sentence of five years.
Prosecutors recommended an 18-month prison sentence for Johnston. Their sentencing memo includes a photograph of a smiling Johnston dressed as Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Capitol Rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” at a Halloween party roughly two years after the siege.
“He thinks his participation in one of the most serious crimes against our democracy is a joke,” prosecutors wrote.
Johnston played pizzeria owner Jimmy Pesto Sr. in Bob’s Burgers, a police officer in Arrested Development, and a street-brawling newsman in the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Johnston also appeared on Mr. Show with Bob and David, an HBO sketch comedy series that starred Bob Odenkirk and David Cross.
Johnston, a Chicago native, moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to pursue an acting career. After the riot, Johnston was fired by the creator of Bob’s Burgers, lost a role in a move based on the show and has “essentially been blacklisted” in Hollywood, said defense attorney Stanley Woodward.
“Instead, Mr. Johnston has worked as a handyman for the last two years — an obvious far cry from his actual expertise and livelihood in film and television,” Woodword wrote.
Woodward accused the government of exaggerating Johnston’s riot participation “because he is an acclaimed Hollywood actor.”
Johnston attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6 before he marched to the Capitol. He used a metal bike rack to scale a stone wall to reach the Capitol’s West Plaza before making his way to the mouth of a tunnel entrance that police were guarding on the Lower West Terrace.
“When he was under the archway, he turned and waved to other rioters, beckoning them to join him in fighting the police,” prosecutors wrote.
Entering the tunnel, Johnston helped other rioters flush chemical irritants out of their eyes. Another rioter gave him a stolen police shield, which he handed up closer to the police line. Johnston the joined other rioters in a “heave ho” push against police in the tunnel, a collective effort that crushed an officer against a doorframe, prosecutors said.
Johnston recorded himself cracking a joke as rioters pushed an orange ladder toward police in the tunnel saying, “We’re going to get those light bulbs fixed!”
A day after the riot, in a text message to an acquaintance, Johnston acknowledged being in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The news has presented it as an attack. It actually wasn’t. Thought it kind of turned into that. It was a mess, Johnston wrote.
FBI agents seized Johnston’s cellphone when they searched his California home in June 2021.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 1,000 rioters have been convicted and sentenced. Roughly 650 of them received prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
November 5, 2023: Collider posted: ‘Bob’s Burgers’ Finds Replacement for Disgraced Jimmy Pesto Voice Actor”
Bob Belcher’s nemesis, Jimmy Pesto, has returned to Bob’s Burgers – but without his now discarded initial voice actor, Eric Bauza has replaced Jay Johnston as the voice of the unscrupulous Italian restauranteur. ComicBook.com reports that Bauza appeared as Pesto on “Bully-ieve It or Not,” the fifth episode of the animated sitcom’s fourteenth season. Pesto had not appeared since season 11’s “Bridge Over Troubled Rudy,” which aired in 2021, shortly before Johnston’s legal troubles began.
Johnston, a veteran of Mr. Show and Arrested Development, was one of the participants in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, in which supporters of Donald Trump’s false claims that he’d done the 2020 Presidential election stormed the US Capitol, causing death and destruction. Johnston was subsequently fired from the show, and was formerly charged with a number of offenses relating to the riot earlier this year.
This is the second time this year that Bauza had replaced a fired voice actor. He also took over from the disgraced Justin Roiland as the voice of Chris the Red Goobler on this season of Solar Opposites, as well.
- Eric Bauza has replaced Jay Johnston as the voice of Jimmy Pesto in Bob’s Burgers due to Johnston’s involvement in the Capitol riot.
- This is not the first time Bauza has replaced a fired voice actor, as he also took over from Justin Roiland in Solar Opposites.
- Outside of his role in Bob’s Burgers, Bauza has voiced iconic characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Luke Skywalker in various animated productions.