Police Officers Among Latest Charged By FBI In Capitol Siege

WASHINGTON, DC — Two police officers, a former school employee and a retired firefighter are among the latest to be charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as a third law enforcement official could soon face charges as well.

The officers who have already been charged, Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, work for the department in Rocky Mount, Virginia. They were both off-duty when they entered the Capitol building with other rioters, according to police.

The pair were photographed in the Capitol building, with one making an obscene gesture, in front of a statue of American Revolutionary War Gen. John Stark.

Robertson told Newsweek that he and Fracker had sent the photo to police department colleagues and had reposted it to Facebook after it was leaked to social media, according to court documents.

The two both face charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Both officers are now on paid administrative leave, according to The Roanoke Times.

A Houston police officer, an 18-year veteran of the force, could also soon face charges in connection with the riot, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said, according to a report from The New York Times.

“It absolutely is clear that he penetrated the Capitol,” Acevedo said in the NYT report. “And we fully anticipate him being charged federally.”

A retired Chester, Pennsylvania, firefighter has been accused of throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol police during the riot. Robert Sanford, 55, was charged with three federal felonies on Thursday, including assault on a federal officer.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Sanford was not the man who threw a fire extinguisher at Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from his injuries sustained during the unrest on Jan. 6.

The photos of Sanford donning his CFD beanie spread around social media but had an unintended consequence: false accusations against a retired Chicago firefighter as being the alleged assaulter.

Social media trolls wrongly claimed the man now believed to be Sanford was retired Chicago firefighter David Quintavalle. Quintvalle was grocery shopping and celebrating his wife's birthday in Chicago on Jan. 6, not in Washington D.C.

Also arrested on Thursday was Kevin Seefried, a Delaware man accused of being the person shown in several photographs carrying a Confederate flag through the building. Seefried and his son, Hunter Seefried, were in court Thursday facing charges related to the siege, Delaware Online and others have reported.

Christine Priola, a former employee with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, has also been charged.

According to the affidavit against her, Priola was part of a group that surged past barricades and broke into the U.S. Capitol. She entered the Senate chamber, took photos of people inside the chamber and was videotaped moving around the Capitol, the affidavit said.

She resigned from her position with the school district a day after the riot. In her resignation letter, she said she would not take the COVID-19 vaccine, would switch careers to expose pedophilia and complained about the way her union dues were used, Cleveland 19 reported.

A man wearing a "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt and another whose gear during the Capitol building siege included a police vest and shield were among seven to face new federal charges on Wednesday in connection with the week before's insurrection.

Robert Keith Packer of Virginia was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the Department of Justice.

Packer, one of seven the FBI charged with federal crimes on Wednesday, is believed by authorities to be the man wearing the "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt outside the Capitol on the day of the siege, according to multiple reports.

The sweatshirt worn by Packer also included the words "Work Brings Freedom," which is the German phrase "Arbeit macht frei" that was emblazoned on the iron gates at Auschwitz, a World War II complex of more than 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi forces during the Holocaust. More than 1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.

CNN reported earlier this week that Packer worked previously as a welder and pipe-fitter and was a "long-time extremist who has had run-ins with the law." The network said that Packer has three prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol and a felony conviction for forging public records.

A neighbor of a Virginia property owned by Packer told WAVY Packer did not live in the neighborhood, and always kept to himself when he would come to maintain the property.

Politics never came up when the two talked, according to the report.

“When you wear a T-shirt that glorifies the atrocities during WWII against the Jewish people and other people. It really hurts your heart,” the neighbor said.

It was an internet meme that helped the FBI track down Aaron Mostofsky, another who faces federal charges in the riot.

The meme — which shows Mostofsky standing inside the Capitol with the police vest and shield he is now accused of stealing — became one of the final pieces of evidence that helped federal officials identify the Brooklyn man before arresting him Tuesday, according to federal documents.

Mostofsky was charged with one felony count of theft of government property, the Department of Justice said.

Jenny Cudd, a Texas florist who bragged about her involvement in the Capitol siege in a Facebook Live video, is another who is already facing federal charges, according to reports.

Cudd posted on her Facebook page after the riot, stating "we" tore down the doors to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, according to a KOSA report. Cudd's Facebook page has since been deleted.

She later defended her actions, telling the Texas news station she "didn't break any laws." She said she was proud of her actions at the Capitol and would do it again, according to the station.

FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director in Charge Steven D'Antuono said this week more than 170 case files have been opened in the six days since the insurrection. He credited the public's submission of more than 100,000 pieces of digital media in advancing these cases.

The FBI has asked anyone with more evidence of people "who may have incited or promoted violence of any kind" to submit the tip online here.

The FBI continues to "scour every one for investigative and intelligence leads," D'Antuono said.

Thirteen people were charged federally in connection with the riot within a day, according to the FBI.

Among them is Adam Johnson of Florida, who removed the Speaker of the House's lectern and was shown carrying it inside the Capitol, the Justice Department said. He has been charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Richard Barnett of Arkansas is accused of entering a restricted area for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and theft of public money, property, or records.

Barnett, according to the FBI, faces an additional count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without law authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds; and one count of theft of public money, property, or records, according to updated charges from the Justice Department.

This article originally appeared on the Across America Patch