WASHINGTON – Bruno Cua, an 18-year-old from Milton, Georgia, had already faced serious charges when he was arrested on February 6 in connection with the uprising in the American Capitol a month earlier. He is not only accused of entering the Capitol illegally, but also of assaulting the police and obstructing Congress’ efforts to certify the presidential election, which is a crime.
But it only got worse for Cua when a federal grand jury in Washington, DC returned a charge sheet four days later. In addition to the original charge, the grand jury charged him with criminal charges that he had invaded the Capitol, citing evidence that he was carrying a ‘deadly and dangerous weapon’ – in she falls a baton. The addition of a ‘weapons improvement’ meant that the maximum sentence he imposed for the counts jumped tenfold, from one year in prison to 10.
Cua is one of a growing number of defendants charged in the uprising as their criminal counts – and potential jail time – come together as the investigation continues. Other accused are only charged with misconduct when they were arrested, are now facing the charge of the case. Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin in Washington told reporters a week after the Capitol assault that the early rounds of arrests on charges of misconduct were ‘just the beginning’, promising more ‘significant charges’ once prosecutors cases before a large jury. . New court documents in cases like Cua’s show how it is taking shape.
Of the more than 230 people charged so far, at least 70 now face at least one criminal count – the most common being the Congressional Barricade, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. More than thirty are charged with assault or interference with law enforcement, and at least 14 are charged with carrying or using a weapon that day. Weapons submitted in the government dossier so far have included knives, Tasers, a hockey stick, a large metal pipe, baseball bats, fire extinguishers and batons.
The BuzzFeed News journalists are proud to present you with reliable and relevant reporting. To keep this news free, become a member.
Many new cases are still expected. Sherwin told reporters last month that federal law enforcement officials had opened more than 400 case files – a term that generally refers to identifying people of interest – in connection with the investigation. A Justice Department spokesman told BuzzFeed News this week that the number of files was up to about 540.
Sherwin also announced earlier that the Department of Justice had formed special task forces focused on building cases involving more serious crimes, including assault on law enforcement, conspiracy against the United States and insurgency and attacks on the media. No one has yet been charged with riotous conspiracy, a crime that is rarely called up and that also carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, or the assault of press members.
Prosecutors brought four conspiracy cases, claiming small groups of accused acted in concert and in some cases planned the attack in advance; they left the door open to add more suspected conspirators in the future. Three of these cases involve prosecutors linked to prosecutors by the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group linked to violent incidents in the past, and the fourth involves suspected members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing military organization mainly site. of current and former members of the military and law enforcement.
Prosecutors have expanded the Oath Keepers conspiracy case this week, from three accused to nine. The Department of Justice announced Friday that a grand jury has returned a new indictment, with six more people, including Kelly Meggs, the self-described leader of an Oath Keepers chapter in Florida, and a retired Ohio couple , Bennie and Sandra Parker. The Parkers allegedly coordinated with a woman charged in the original charge of Oath Keepers, Jessica Watkins. Prosecutors cited text messages that Watkins exchanged with Bennie Parker until Jan. 6, where the two discussed the Parkers joining the Oath Keepers, planning to travel to Washington and whether to bring weapons. The parkers’ indictments also contain images of surveillance footage in the Capitol that, according to prosecutors, showed Sandra Parker in a line, or ‘stack’, with Watkins and other Oath Guards.
After the uprising, Watkins and Bennie Parker exchanged texts predicting that they would not be arrested, according to the indictment.
The exact amount of time these defendants can spend in prison if convicted is dependent on a number of factors, and it is difficult to predict early. But these penalties are a way to understand how seriously federal law deals with the crimes they are charged with on January 6th. It’s one thing to walk into the Capitol if it’s not allowed, which in itself is a criminal offense with a maximum sentence of one year in prison. It’s another thing to enter the Capitol with the aim of obstructing legislators from carrying out their official duties – it’s an offense with a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Other defendants who saw the improvement of weapons when they were charged include Douglas Jensen, a man who saw Iowa in videos leading a crowd who chased the U.S. Capitol Police Officer, Eugene Goodman, inside the Capitol. Jensen was initially charged with several offenses, including obstructing Congress and assaulting an officer, but no gun-related offenses. He later admitted that he had a knife on him at the time; on a photo of the knife laid next to a ruler included in government court documents, the blade is 3 inches long.
The grand jury returned a 7-person complaint against Jensen on February 10. He was not accused of using the knife to injure anyone, but the allegation that it was in his pocket resulted in two charges of misconduct – entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct. and disruptive actions in a confined building – became crimes.
If you have a news tip, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us via one of our tip line channel.
When Vitali Gosjankowski was arrested in Washington, DC, on January 18, he was charged with carrying a Taser when he illegally entered a restricted area near the entrance to the Capitol, meaning he was already in front of ‘ a weapon improvement. But he was initially not charged with actually using the Taser against the police. That changed when a grand jury returned an indictment on Feb. 17. The number of assaults resulted in a maximum fine of eight years imprisonment, and the increase in arms increased it to 20 years.
The conspiracy charges show how prosecutors are beginning to gather evidence from individual cases. William Pepe of Beacon, New York, was arrested on January 12 on charges of misconduct illegally entering the Capitol. Three days later, Dominic Pezzola, who lives a few hundred miles away in Rochester, New York, was arrested on charges of obstructing Congress, destroying government property and entering the Capitol illegally; prosecutors presented photos of Pezzola breaking a window with a riot shield from U.S. Capitol police.
On January 29, a grand jury returned a charge of 11 people accusing the two men of conspiracy and claiming that they were both members of the Proud Boys. In the indictment, Pepe and Pezzola (who according to prosecutors are also known as ‘Spaz’ and ‘Spazzo’) are accused of descending on the Capitol along with fellow Proud Boys. Prosecutors have ruled out the possibility of later adding co-conspirators, claiming that Pezzola and Pepe were part of a group of Proud Boys and other ‘individuals known and unknown’ involved in the overthrow of metal barriers by the police. erected in the Capitol to block access to the Capitol site. and the assault of officers behind that security perimeter. According to the FBI, a witness told them that Pezzola was part of a group that talked about how they “intended to kill every ‘m-fer’ they could, including then-Vice President Mike Pence,” as they get the chance. “
Pezzola is also individually facing more serious charges in the jail sentence; He is charged with breaking a window at the Capitol, stealing a riot shield from Capitol police and obstructing Congress, imposing a maximum fine of 10, 15 and 20 years in prison respectively. The FBI also found instructions for making guns and bombs in his home.
On February 3, the grand jury returned an indictment with another conspiracy by Proud Boys, this time involving Nicholas DeCarlo, who lives in Texas, and Nicholas Ochs, who lives in Hawaii, and was described in the indictment. as a founding member of the state’s Proud Boys chapter who had a “Proud Boy” tattoo on his right arm. Like Pezzola and Pepe, DeCarlo and Ochs were originally charged with each other, although prosecutors noted they were at the Capitol together.
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that the two men had planned in advance to come to DC to stop, delay and impede Congress’s certification of election votes, and that they were raising money online to fund the trip and their itinerary. to make known. When they were inside the Capitol, the government said they had broken a door in the Capitol by writing the words “MURDER THE MEDIA” – DeCarlo and Ochs claimed that they were mayoral journalists on behalf of “MT Media News” at the Capitol was – and stole some handcuffs from Capitol Police plastic.
The third conspiracy of Proud Boys involves four people who identified prosecutors on videos and photos in the direction of the Capitol. The charges call for Pepe, Ochs and DeCarlo to be seen near these accused, but they are not all charged together.
In the recently expanded conspiracy case Oath Keepers, prosecutors built up a large part of the case based on messages exchanged by various suspected members of the conspiracy about the plan to come to Washington on January 6. The government described Watkins and co-accused Crowl as touching. in the direction of the Capitol “in an organized and trained manner” while carrying tactical equipment. Prosecutors also cited evidence that the accused were in contact with each other and other unknown people during the riot – including via a walkie-talkie app that recorded messages, as well as afterwards.
There are also a few cases where defendants are charged together, but they are not facing a conspiracy charge. In one indictment returned on January 29, but not yet sealed until this week, the grand jury brought together three defendants who apparently did not know each other before January 6 – Michael Lopatic Sr., Jeffrey Sabol and Peter Stager – but were all accused. of assault or interference with the same police officer outside the Capitol, to which the initials “BM” Lopatic and Sabol refer, are also separately charged with attacking other officers at the scene.