A Kansas man and his brother were both arrested Friday on several federal charges related to their alleged involvement in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last month.
William Pope, of Topeka, was arrested without incident by the FBI and Topeka police officers and was detained without connection in the Shawnee County Jail.
He acknowledges his involvement in the riot and claims he was not violent, but adds that he later reported himself to the FBI because ‘it was the right thing to do’.
“I was at the Capitol to exercise my rights for first amendment and remain loyal to the United States of America,” Pope was quoted as saying by the Topeka Capital-Journal. “The best way to restore the structure of our society is to maintain the trust of people in their government institutions.”
William Pope, of Topeka, was booked Friday at Shawnee County Jail in Topeka, Kan (Shawnee County Department of Corrections via AP)
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Pope, 35, was nominated for the Topeka City Council last year and from October 2020 he will be listed as a Republican committee member in Shawnee County. He also worked briefly as an auditor for the Legislative Division for Post Audit, the state’s official auditing agency until 2019.
Pope was also an adjunct instructor at Fort Hays State University from January 2016 to May 2020. And he was listed as a doctoral student in the Kansas State University Department of Communication Studies from Friday.
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Kansas State spokeswoman Michelle Geering said the university is conducting an internal investigation and will not comment on future staff actions.
Scott Cason, a spokesman for Fort Hays State University, said the school was not aware of any case in which Pope’s political views were included in his teaching, Cason said.
He was charged with civil disorder; enter and stay in a restricted building or site; obstruction or impediment to any official process; disorderly and disruptive behavior in a restricted building or site; obstructive passage through the Capitol site of buildings; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, protesting or protesting in a Capitol building, the FBI said according to the Capital Journal.
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His brother, Michael Pope, of Sandpoint, Idaho, was also arrested Friday and charged with the same crimes, the newspaper reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.