Olyphant volunteer firefighter pleads not guilty in Capitol riot case

Apr. 26—An Olyphant volunteer firefighter pleaded not guilty Monday to federal charges filed over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Michael J. Rusyn, 35, Olyphant, who had not spoken publicly about his arrest, said little during the detention hearing in Washington D.C., which took place via Zoom before U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey.

"Yes, your honor," Rusyn said several times from his Olyphant home in response to Harvey's questions, including whether he understood the conditions that allow him to remain free until his trial.

The conditions include no travel to Washington, D.C. except for matters related to the criminal charges; no travel outside the 33-county middle district of Pennsylvania federal court territory without approval from a federal pretrial services officer; no international travel without a judge's approval; no possession of guns or other dangerous weapons; no illegal drug use; no excessive alcohol use; no drunken driving; mandatory drug testing and "substance abuse treatment as directed by a pretrial services officer"; weekly calls to a pretrial services officer to verify his address; and compliance with all local, state and federal laws.

"I do," Rusyn said when a court officer asked if he swore to comply with the conditions, virtually identical to those set by Magistrate Judge Joseph Saporito in the middle district of Pennsylvania when Rusyn was arrested April 9.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Andrea Dechenne Bergman, who normally works in a New Jersey federal court district, was appointed Rusyn's lawyer. Bergman said the next hearing date for Rusyn is June 22 at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Reached by telephone after the hearing, Rusyn again declined to comment.

He is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, the Capitol; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, the Capitol; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Rusyn, a volunteer firefighter with Liberty Hose Company No. 6, joined a group of people who tried to enter the U.S. House chamber and called Capitol police fending them off traitors. They chanted threateningly against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and "stop the steal," a rallying cry that falsely claims vote fraud cost President Donald Trump re-election.

Rusyn held a cellphone and recorded the encounter, according to a criminal complaint.

Rusyn told investigators he was pushed into the building by the crowd and was injured trying to take broomsticks with hooks and nails in them and other weapons away from other people.

As the protesters tried to enter the House, Rusyn's congressman, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, and many other House members fled down a narrow stairway elsewhere in the chamber.

The rioters, Trump loyalists, tried to stop Congress from certifying Scranton native Joe Biden's election as president.

Five people died that day, four of natural causes, including a Capitol officer who was attacked by rioters but who died of strokes later. The other death was a rioter who died when another Capitol officer shot her as the crowd tried to bash doors and windows to get inside.

Investigators have charged more than 350 people in the riot, including two others from Northeast Pennsylvania — former Old Forge School Director Frank Scavo, 58, and Annie Howell, 30, of Swoyersville.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.