FBI: Olyphant volunteer firefighter charged in Jan. 6 riot first identified by social media postings

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Apr. 15—At about the same time U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright and other Congressional leaders fled the chambers of the House of Representatives on Jan. 6, a volunteer firefighter from his district streamed live to Facebook as the mob he was in rushed the doors of the U.S. Capitol, according to newly unsealed documents in the case.

Michael Joseph Rusyn, 35, of Olyphant, was about 10 feet from the front of a group the outnumbered U.S. Capitol Police tried to block from entering the House chamber, FBI Special Agent Michael B. Miller charged in federal court.

The crowd seethed. Some demanded the Capitol Police step aside as they called the officers traitors. Some declared their support for then-President Donald J. Trump. And some yelled they had come for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Chants of "stop the steal," a rallying cry for the falsehood that Trump had the reelection stolen from him, rang out.

Rusyn held a cellphone to record the encounter, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Federal authorities have not charged Rusyn with any violence against law enforcement. Five people died that day, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. Rusyn told investigators he was actually injured trying to take weapons away from members of the crowd, which he described as objects like "broom sticks" with hooks and nails affixed to their ends.

However, Rusyn was part of a crowd that breached the building and sent the nation's leaders scrambling for safety, according to a probable cause document charging him with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and related counts.

On the day the House and Senate met to certify the election victory of President Joseph R. Biden, a Scranton native, and Vice President Kamala Harris, hundreds of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol to disrupt the process.

Since then, federal investigators have charged more than 350 people from across the country for participating in the breach, now including two from Lackawanna County, according to a tally of cases listed by federal prosecutors in Washington D.C. Annie Howell, of Swoyersville, woman recently pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct, violent entry, obstruction of Congress, and picketing in a Capitol building during the attack.

Rusyn surrendered to authorities Friday and had his initial court appearance the same day. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Saporito released him and ordered he appear in front of the court in Washington D.C. by Zoom at 1 p.m. this Friday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled April 21 in Wilkes-Barre before Saporito.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Rusyn declined to comment. Attempts to reach his attorney, Assistant U.S. Public Defender Elliot Smith, were unsuccessful. Smith previously declined to comment on the case.

The FBI snared Rusyn with help from his social media postings. A person who knew of Rusyn from high school, who was not identified by authorities in court papers, saw him in a livestream entering the Capitol and contacted the FBI on Jan. 7. The person shared Rusyn's Facebook account with investigators, which was under the moniker "Michael Joseph." That witness could not recall his last name but said he lived in the Scranton area and was a volunteer firefighter and EMT, according to court papers.

Federal agents built a case against Rusyn by first confirming through a search warrant served on Facebook that his social media profile was among those within the Capitol's geographic area that livestreamed that day. Facebook also provided agents with a cellphone number associated with his account.

Search warrants served on AT&T and Google provided investigators with his name, email and physical address in Olyphant. His phone number was associated with the AT&T account of the "Liberty Fire Department," according to investigators.

Olyphant Fire Chief Dave Tully said Rusyn is a firefighter with Liberty Hose Company No. 6, one of five volunteer fire companies in the borough, and has been for years.

Rusyn spoke with the FBI voluntarily in Scranton on Feb. 17, investigators wrote. He admitted he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but denied making a "conscious" decision to go inside the building, according to the FBI. He told investigators he was "pushed" in by others and remained there for about an hour.

The FBI provided him with a screenshot of a video taken from inside the Capitol with his face in it. Rusyn confirmed it was him, investigators wrote.

Beside Rusyn, former Old Forge School Director Frank Scavo, 58, who led five busloads of local residents to Washington on Jan. 6, was charged March 25 on similar counts. It is not known if Rusyn was on one of those buses.

Scavo is scheduled for a case status hearing April 21. Attempts to reach Scavo were unsuccessful Wednesday.

Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.