Tampa man charged in connection to U.S. Capitol riot
TAMPA — Two more Florida men, including one who lists a Tampa address, face charges in connection to the U.S. Capitol riot, records show.
Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, and Graydon Young, 54, have both been arrested and charged with several crimes in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection by a mob of Trump supporters, federal court records show.
Hillsborough County voter records show Hodgkins lists an address in Tampa’s Sulphur Springs neighborhood. He first registered to vote in Hillsborough in 2016 and voted there in the November election.
Booking records show Young, who is being held in the Pinellas County jail, lists an address in Englewood, an unincorporated area that straddles Sarasota and Charlotte counties.
Records show both men have been charged by federal prosecutors with entering a restricted building or grounds and tampering with or destroying records and documents.
In addition, Hodgkins faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and Young is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and destroying, altering or falsifying records in a federal investigation.
According to a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Feb. 9, the investigation into Hodgkins began on Jan. 22, when the FBI received a tip from someone who knows him.
The tipster had received an apparent “selfie-style photograph” from a friend of a friend showing a man with long black hair, a black mustache and beard standing in the well of the Senate chamber, the complaint states. The man, who is wearing a dark t-shirt with “Trump” in white letters, appears to have a pair of protective eye goggles under his chin. The tipster said the photo was obtained from Parler, the far right-friendly social networking application used by many Trump supporters.
The tipster identified the man as Hodgkins, the complaint states. An FBI investigator compared the photo to Hodgkins’ Florida driver license photo and concluded they appeared to be the same person.
Hodgkins also appears in a video taken in the Senate chamber by a reporter for The New Yorker magazine, according to the complaint. In the footage, Hodgkins is also standing in the well of the chamber and is holding a red flag bearing the “Trump 2020 1/4 u2033 slogan.
During an interview with investigators on Jan. 26, Hodgkins admitted to being the man in the selfie-style photo and another photo taken in the chamber, the complaint states.
“According to Hodgkins, he saw other people around him breaking windows, individuals engaged in a knife fight, and other injured individuals, but Hodgkins did not know those individuals or participate in the conduct,” the complaint states.
Hodgkins also appears in closed-circuit security footage taken that day, according to the complaint. At one point in the video, he can be seen walking around the Senate chamber wearing the goggles and snapping photos with his cell phone. At another point, while standing near a desk with papers on it, he can be seen putting on what appear to be white latex gloves.
Records show Hodgkins was arrested on Monday and released on $25,000 bail after appearing in court in Tampa. He was appointed a federal public defender. The attorney listed for him in court records did not immediately return a message from the Tampa Bay Times on Friday.
The federal complaint outlining the allegations against Young was not available Friday. Records show he was arrested on Feb. 15 and was scheduled to go before a federal judge in Tampa on Friday. The private defense attorney listed for him in court records did not immediately return a message on Friday.
Hodgkins is at least the second man with ties to Hillsborough County who has been arrested in connection to the riots. Matthew Council of Riverview was arrested in January on a charge of unlawful entry.
Times staff writer Dan Sullivan contributed to this report.
