Fishersville man and Jan. 6 defendant suffers oral abscess, seeks pre-trial release
A Fishersville man and former Special Forces soldier implicated in the 2021 attacks at the United States Capitol filed a motion earlier this month for immediate hospitalization to be followed by a pre-trial release from jail after he began suffering from an oral abscess, federal court records show.
Jeffery McKellop, 56, is one of more than 860 people charged in connection with the attacks on Jan. 6, 2021. About 90 of those defendants, including McKellop, are charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. He has been held since his arrest in March 2021.
On Aug. 3, McKellop's attorney filed an emergency motion that stated the defendant had been suffering from a debilitating toothache for several weeks, and said the defendant requested both orally and in writing adequate medical care from staff at the Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF) in Washington, where he is being held.
“His repeated requests have been dismissed or minimized, and he received no meaningful medical care with the predictable result that his condition worsened,” wrote attorney John C. Kiyonaga.
Despite being given antibiotics, McKellop’s condition continued to decline, according to the motion. “As per a pod mate as reported to his counsel, Defendant’s pain has gone from severe to agonizing, and his jaw is grossly distended,” it said.
Kiyonaga said he feared an abscess and sepsis with “potentially grave consequences.” The motion asked that once McKellop’s condition was stabilized, the court should consider conditions for his release “for the reasons previously propounded to the court and because CTF has definitively demonstrated its inability (or unwillingness) to care for the welfare of defendant.”
The next day, a judge noted the United States Marshals Service did not disagree that McKellop was in need of an external dental appointment. However, the appointment was still five days out on Aug. 9. The judge ordered McKellop be taken no later than the close of business the following day. McKellop's request for a pre-trial release was denied.
But a day later on Aug. 5, the government filed a motion for a modification and extension of time, and again asked that McKellop’s appointment be pushed back to Aug. 9 so he could receive in-house dental care at the jail. Based on additional information provided to the judge from the U.S. Marshal Service, it was learned that McKellop had been seen by a dentist Aug. 2, but due to inflammation of his tooth it could not be extracted. The motion said a local hospital had been contacted about emergency room treatment “but the hospital advised that if an infection is present, the patient would be referred to a dentist once the infection is cleared.”
Based on the information in the motion, the government asked that McKellop’s appointment be pushed back to the original date of Aug. 9 “and the location of treatment be conducted in-house” at the jail.
In objecting to the government’s request, Kiyonaga said prosecutors were relying on the jail’s assessment, and he said the motion for an extension and in-house treatment should be rejected. “As the Court is aware, it was the jail’s failure to provide adequate dental/medical care in the first place that necessitated the Court’s intervention,” he said.
The court sided with the prosecution and ordered that McKellop have his tooth extracted at the jail on Aug. 9.
According to an affidavit from the FBI, two witnesses identified McKellop as being part of the mob in the attacks at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal authorities accuse McKellop — a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who reportedly donned a helmet, tactical vest, protective eye wear and a gas mask that day — of assaulting officers, throwing bottles at police and allegedly picking up a flagpole and striking an officer in the face, injuring the officer. McKellop then reportedly threw the flagpole at the same officer like a spear, documents allege. He faces 17 federal counts.
McKellop is not accused of breaching the Capitol Building.
He will be tried in February 2023, according to his court file.
In May, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation presented an affidavit in support of a search warrant for McKellop’s jail cell, mail and personal property. Finding probable cause, a judge authorized the search and the FBI seized about 50 to 100 documents from McKellop’s cell along with 10 to 15 letters, both incoming and outgoing, records show.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Fishersville man and Jan. 6 defendant suffers oral abscess, seeks release
