Proud Boys, Veterans Among VA, DC Accused Jan. 6 Capitol Rioters

VIRGINIA/DC — Federal prosecutors have charged more than 40 people from Virginia and Washington, D.C., for their participation in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a day when supporters of former President Donald Trump hoped to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Trump supporters succeeded in entering the Capitol as a joint session of Congress convened to certify Biden's electoral vote win.

Altogether, more than 700 people from across the nation have been charged over the past year for their role in the attack. Florida is home to 79 people arrested or charged for their participation in the attack, the most of any state.

In the D.C. area, 38 residents of Virginia and four people from the District of Columbia are facing charges for their actions on Jan. 6, a database from USA Today shows.

While hundreds of the people who were on the front-lines of the storming of the Capitol are facing charges a year later, none of the ringleaders and instigators of the Stop the Steal movement has faced criminal charges for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The slow pace of the investigations into the members of the highest echelons of government who participated in the Jan. 6 attack likely indicates that only the foot soldiers of the campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election will be held accountable.

Despite clear warnings of widespread violence by Trump supporters in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, the U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies chose to deploy a limited number of officers to protect the Capitol.

Along with hailing the officers who fought to protect the Capitol, the Capitol Police has recommended six officers for disciplinary action stemming from their actions during the Jan. 6 attack. However, no officers are expected to face charges.

READ ALSO: Jan. 6 Insurrection Anniversary May Draw 'Threat Actors': Feds

"January 6 exposed critical deficiencies with operational planning, intelligence, staffing, and equipment," the agency said in a report, "U.S. Capitol Police & Capitol Police Board Security Report," released Wednesday, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the attack.

"Those issues have to be addressed, and that is what the Capitol Police Board (Board) and the USCP are actively doing. The Board and the USCP recognize that the changes already made, those in progress and those planned for the future must be transformational," the agency said.

On Thursday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam recalled how he was pulled out of his regular COVID-19 briefing on Jan. 6, 2021, to take a phone call from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was asking for help from Northam as the mob swarmed the Capitol.

"I sent the Virginia State Police, and later the Virginia National Guard, to protect our elected representatives and the seat of our democracy," Northam said. "We believed, and hoped, that the threat had passed. But today, a year later, we know it has not."

Trump "continues to spread lies about his loss, while members of his party are sacrificing democratic principles in an effort to appease voters and retain power," Northam said.

Five police officers died in the aftermath of the Trump supporters attacking the Capitol. All five lived in Virginia. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed after battling rioters who had swarmed the Capitol and later died, lived in Fairfax County.

U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood, who died by suicide only days after the insurrection, grew up in Fairfax County and lived in Northern Virginia. D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide about a week after the insurrection, also lived in Northern Virginia.

D.C. police officer Gunther Hashida, an 18-year veteran of the force who also fought the insurrectionists on Jan. 6, died by suicide in last July at his home in Prince William County. Fellow D.C. police officer Kyle DeFreytag, who also responded to the attack and lived in Alexandria, died by suicide in July.

“One year ago, on January 6, 2021, a violent mob attempted to overturn the presidential election results and rob the American people of their duly elected leaders, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said in a statement Wednesday. "The insurrection led to the tragic loss of multiple heroic law enforcement officers from Virginia, and my heart is with their loved ones on this anniversary."

DC Residents Who Attacked The Capitol

Among the D.C. residents who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 was Darrell Neely, who was arrested and charged on Oct. 18. During efforts to identify Neely, the FBI interviewed three people who work with Neely at Global Enlightenment Radio Network.

"According to Witness 3, NEELY boasted that he had attacked a USCP officer and had taken the USCP jacket, badge, name tag, and baseball cap from the officer. Witness 3 said NEELY also boasted about taking china plates from the Capitol building," court documents said.

Another D.C. resident, Joshua Pruitt, 39, was arrested on Jan. 6, 2021, and faces eight federal charges, including civil disorder, attempting to impede an official proceeding before Congress and engaging in physical violence against a person in a restricted building, according to court documents.

Pruitt was a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group known for violence, CNN reported. He was initiated by Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio in D.C. at a pro-Trump rally in November 2020.

Mark Ponder, 55, is the only D.C. resident who participated in the attack on the Capitol who remains in jail. Ponder was indicted in March on 12 counts, including assaulting federal officers using a dangerous weapon and obstruction of an official proceeding. Federal investigators say Ponder used a metal pole to repeatedly assault officers attempting to hold the line at the West Terrace on Jan. 6.

Ponder was taken back into custody on March 17, and has remained in pretrial detention since then.

The fourth D.C. resident charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was Stephen M. Baker, 32. He faces charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds

A D.C. music teacher, Baker livestreamed video on YouTube during the Capitol riot under the identity "Stephen Ignoramus," in video picked up by several media outlets, according to a criminal complaint by the FBI. Several witnesses tipped the FBI to Baker's videos, and even though most had been taken offline, the agency was able to track the videos back to Baker.

According to a criminal complaint, at least four people contacted the FBI with information about a man — Baker — who had live-streamed from inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6 under the name “Stephen Ignoramus.”

VA Residents Who Attacked The Capitol

In Virginia, at least 38 people have been arrested or charged so far in connection with the attack. Among the most notable residents charged are police officers and a Navy veteran with alleged ties to the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government militia organization.

Thomas Caldwell, 65 of Clarke County, was arrested on Jan. 19, 2021, and charged with conspiracy; conspiracy to impede or injure officer; destruction of government property; obstruction of an official proceeding; restricted building or grounds; violent entry or disorderly conduct.

The FBI arrested Caldwell after Facebook posts indicated he was involved in planning and coordinating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, which involved several other members of the group the Oath Keepers.

At least two others from the large but loosely organized group were arrested after the attack. The FBI cited a Facebook message sent by Caldwell organizing the group to meet and stay at the Comfort Inn in Arlington, according to the indictment against Caldwell.

A former Navy officer, Caldwell is also a former FBI employee and at one point had "top secret" level security clearance.

Newsweek reported that Caldwell allegedly incited the crowd by telling them to "hang the traitors," according to court filings released in December by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Caldwell is a constituent of Del. Dave LaRock, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegate who easily won re-election in November. LaRock told The Winchester Start that he has known Caldwell since he took office in 2014.

"Tom is a wonderful man. He and [Caldwell's wife] Sharon have been very supportive of me," LaRock told the newspaper. "Tom has served our country in a long and distinguished career in the U.S. military. I think very highly of Tom and Sharon."

Robert Keith Packer, 56, of Newport News was arrested on Jan. 13 and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry or disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Media coverage of the events identified Packer as the man with a full gray beard who was seen in footage wearing a sweatshirt with the words "CAMP AUSCHWITZ" outside and inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. His sweatshirt also had a skull on it with the text "WORK BRINGS FREEDOM" underneath, according to an FBI affidavit.

Nazis killed more than 1 million people at Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Germany, in a five-year span during World War II. The death camp's gate read, "Arbeit mact frei," which translates in English to "work makes freedom," according to the criminal complaint.

A federal judge has scheduled a trial in April for two former Virginia police officers charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said a jury trial in D.C. will start on April 4 for former Rocky Mount police officers Thomas Robertson and Jacob Fracker, The Associated Press reported last month.

Robertson and Fracker pleaded not guilty last February to charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. The FBI said they posed for a photograph inside the Capitol during the attack and later posted about the riot on social media.

According to the George Washington University Program on Extremism, the average age of people charged in the attack on the Capitol is 39. Cases have been brought against 613 men and 91 women.

After Florida, with 76 defendants, Pennsylvania and Texas are each home to 63 people charged in the attack.

Of the 704 people charged so far, 12 percent have military experience. Seventy-three of the defendants are military veterans, two are in the National Guard, four are in the reserves, one is active duty and one was attending basic training.

Read a complete list of all defendants connected to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the Department of Justice website.

This article originally appeared on the Washington DC Patch