Why did this quiet Florida town produce 4 Capitol riot suspects? Locals share different opinions
KATHLEEN – The hamlet of Kathleen is a pocket of rural Florida that largely endures even as residential development steadily engulfs it.
The settlement, founded in the decades after the Civil War, still has a few pastures on which horses romp and graze. A yellow road sign near a bend on First Street warns of horses crossing the road.
The nearby My Place Farm Stand sells everything from homegrown tomatoes and cabbages to duck eggs and pet rabbits. A handmade sign posted along Kathleen Road advertises collard greens for sale.
Wood-frame, Cracker-style houses abide along quiet roads, along with aging mobile homes. The Kathleen Masonic Lodge occupies a neatly kept building adjacent to the brick edifice of the Lions Club.
The mostly unincorporated community, which overlaps a bit with the city of Lakeland, is not a place where residents expect to see armored vehicles and FBI agents carrying out early morning raids. But that’s what happened June 30, when authorities entered the property of the Pollock family to arrest Olivia Pollock and charge her with committing crimes during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Pollock, 30, is one of four Kathleen-area residents indicted on a range of charges that include assaulting law-enforcement officers. An FBI arrest affidavit unsealed Thursday described in precise detail acts of aggression the four allegedly committed in fighting with officers trying to protect the Capitol building.
Pollock’s brother, Jonathan Pollock, was also indicted, though authorities had not found and arrested him as of Friday afternoon. The others facing charges, Joshua Doolin and Joseph Hutchinson III, also live in the area.
A fifth suspect, Michael Perkins of Plant City, is described in the affidavit as an associate of the Pollocks.
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Local residents expressed a range of reactions Friday to news of the indictments.
“That did surprise me, yes, because this is, to me, a sleepy little area,” Rick Burton said as he was leaving the Kathleen Post Office. “And when I found that out, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ because it was right down from my house. Yeah, that was a big deal.”
Burton said he has lived in Kathleen about 15 years. His wife grew up in the area, and he said she distantly knew a member of the Pollock family, which has resided in Kathleen for decades.
As the past six months have shown, suspects charged with participating in the Capitol insurrection hail from across the country, from large cities, suburbs and rural hamlets. Supporters of former President Donald Trump carried out the attack in an effort to prevent the certification of results from the 2020 election showing that his opponent, Joe Biden, had won.
At least 465 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, according to the U.S. Justice Department, including more than 130 charged with assaulting or impeding officers. More of the suspects are residents of Florida than of any other state.
Kathleen voted heavily for Trump
Kathleen is Trump territory. In the 2020 election, Trump carried Precinct 113, which votes at Kathleen Baptist Church, with 80.6% of the tally.
A large yard on Second Avenue contains two flagpoles that hold three Trump flags and one American flag. Signs and banners declaring loyalty to the former president appear at many other residences.
Most of those interviewed at random Friday morning said all involved with the Capitol attack should be punished, even though some identified themselves as Trump supporters.
“I’m a Republican, but I don’t agree with (the actions)," Burton said. "I’m retired law enforcement, so I feel that if you’re proven guilty then you need to pay for it.”
Nathan Howard, also stopping in at the post office, described himself as politically conservative and said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the local arrests.
“We have a lot of idiots around here,” said Howard, 36. “I mean, anyone who was involved in that committed treason and should be prosecuted, including the (former) president. I took an oath when I joined the Marine Corps to defend this country, and that (activity) goes against that oath.”
Judy Letchworth said she had heard about the arrests.
“Just surprised that they were here in this area, because I’ve never heard of anyone in this area doing criminal activity,” said Letchworth, 68. “I mean, I’ve heard of drug activity, but I’ve not heard of anything like that.”
Letchworth, who has lived in the area for almost 50 years, suggested that she understood the motivation of the Capitol rioters.
“I’m a Republican,” she said. “I’m a Trump (supporter), all the way. Not happy with the outcome; feel like he got run over.”
But Letchworth said she doesn’t think those who stormed the Capitol should be excused.
“Oh, no, I feel like they did wrong,” she said. “They should not have done that. If they wanted to, you know, campaign or whatever you do, but not storm the Congress like they did, no. … I’d love to see (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi out of there, but they shouldn’t have done what they did.”
'This area's so good'
Carmen Ruiz, who has lived in the area for about five years, seemed shocked to learn about the arrests.
“Oh, my God, that’s terrible,” said Ruiz, 65. “That’s terrible because this area’s so good. I think it’s the best.”
Her granddaughter, Eliana Ruiz, added her opinion as they sat in their car outside the post office.
“I think it’s a great idea to arrest them because that’s just doing something rude to the United States,” said Eliana, 10, “and that’s not very nice, and we need to respect each other.”
Defense of attacking Capitol, police
Mike Moore of Lakeland offered an ambivalent assessment as he prepared to carry packages into the post office.
“People they can do whatever they want in life,” said Moore, 37. “That was their choice, and they’ve got to deal with the choice they made. They might learn from it; they might not. They might not think they have anything to learn from it because they might think they were doing the right thing.”
Told that the local residents are accused of assaulting police officers, Moore declined to condemn them.
“Police attack citizens every day,” he said.
Kate Harrison busied herself Friday morning with rewriting an erasable sign at My Place Farm Stand, which she and her husband, Bill, opened in March. They have lived in the area about 18 months and share their 6 acres with dozens of farm animals, including cows, goats and pigs.
Harrison, 65, dismissed the investigation of the Capitol attack as “bull----.”
Why?
“Because I have watched a YouTube video that shows a guard throwing a bomb or an explosive toward the Capitol,” she said. “I think it was a setup against the people of the United States.”
Harrison questioned the arrests related to the Jan. 6 unrest.
“I believe either they were hired by the government or others,” she said. “They’ve got people in jail up there that weren’t even involved, that were just walking around the Capitol. I just don’t like what I’m seeing in the United States at this time. I believe people are being lied to, to be controlled.”
'Poor judgment'
Eugene Harris arrived at the stand to begin setting up for a small flea market the Harrisons host on weekends. He said he sells clothes and other items.
Harris, 75, said he had heard about the indictments and wasn’t particularly surprised.
“I wasn’t in support of the whole damn riot because they shouldn’t have done it,” said Harris, who wore a “Vietnam Veteran” cap. “I don’t care how avid of a Trump supporter you are, when you take matters in your own hands and you break into government property, you expect to be arrested. I think it was just poor judgment on their part.”
He continued: “They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There are other means to protest other than getting in a riot, breaking into the Capitol building and stealing stuff. I served in the Army for 12 years. I just couldn’t see the justification for these acts that they did.”
Harris said he is a registered Democrat but voted twice for Trump.
“He did wonders for the country,” Harris said. “He was an excellent president, but the Democrats had an agenda. They didn’t want Trump in there, so even before he was inaugurated they tried to get rid of him.”
Keith Deeson has extended family roots in Kathleen. He said Deeson Road, which branches off from Kathleen Road, is named for an ancestor.
Deeson, 54, said he understands why Trump supporters questioned the outcome of the 2020 election.
“There’s people out here and everywhere that feel like, basically, they got cheated in a lot of different ways,” he said. “I don’t know. I guess sometimes people might need to do some extreme things to get things done right. A lot of people feel that way.”
Deeson asked how the authorities identified the four local residents before bringing charges. He was told that the arrest affidavit included images from police officers’ body-worn cameras and other sources taken during the riot.
“We all know that things can be manipulated, right?” he said. “Camera work and things like that. I think, personally, my view is that God will take care of this situation in whatever shape, form or fashion, and I don’t think violence is ever, ever the way.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County, Florida town reacts to arrests in US Capitol riot
