Man accused of stealing Pelosi’s lectern charged
WASHINGTON DC — A Florida man allegedly photographed grinning as he carried away House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the nation’s Capitol is among the latest people charged in Wednesday’s mayhem that left five people dead.
Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, was arrested Friday night on a federal warrant and was being held Saturday without bail in Pinellas County, Florida, according to jail records that do not show if he has an attorney.
Johnson is a married father of five who was quickly identified on social media by local residents as the man in a photo smiling as he walked through the Capitol rotunda carrying Pelosi’s lectern, The Bradenton Herald reported.
He was charged Saturday with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of theft of government property and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Before being deleted or taken down, Johnson posted on social media that he was in Washington, DC, during Wednesday’s riot and included disparaging comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, according to The Bradenton Herald.
An Arizona man seen in photos and video of the mob wearing a costume with a painted face and a fur hat topped by horns was also taken into custody Saturday. Jacob Anthony Chansley, more commonly known as Jake Angeli, had become a staple in his costume at pro-trump protests across the country.
He is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Chansley is among dozens of people arrested in the wake of the Capitol invasion by a large mob of supporters enraged over Trump’s election loss who forced lawmakers to halt their voting to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and go into hiding for hours. The rioters took over the House and Senate chambers, smashed windows and waved Trump, American and Confederate flags.
By Saturday, prosecutors had filed 17 cases in federal district court and 40 others in the District of Columbia Superior Court for a variety of offenses ranging from assaulting police officers to entering restricted areas of the US Capitol, stealing federal property and threatening lawmakers.
Prosecutors said additional cases remained under seal, dozens of other people were being sought by federal agents and the US attorney in Washington vowed Friday that “all options were on the table” for charges, including possibly sedition.
Other notable arrests in the Capitol invasion include:
— Richard Barnett, an Arkansas man who was shown in a widely seen photo sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with his boots on a desk after the storming of the Capitol, was arrested Friday by the FBI. Barnett, 60, turned himself in to FBI agents at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. He is jailed in the Washington County Detention Center in nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas, without bond pending an initial court appearance, FBI Little Rock spokesman Connor Hagan said. No attorney is listed in online jail records for the Gravette, Arkansas, man.
— Derrick Evans, a West Virginia state lawmaker who posted videos online showing himself pushing his way inside the Capitol, was arrested Friday by the FBI at his home and charged with entering restricted federal property. In the videos, Evans is seen fist bumping a police officer and then milling around the rotunda as he shouted, “Our house!” He’s facing bipartisan calls for his resignation as federal prosecutors step up their pursuit of violent perpetrators.