No easy explanations
Hammond man seen at Capitol riot has bond revoked by feds
Federal authorities revoked bond Thursday for a Hammond man after a prosecutor said he has seen evidence that shows Kash Lee Kelly in Washington, D.C., and inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection while awaiting sentencing on a gang-related drug charge.
“He may make a legal dispute but I have personally seen the evidence, photos of him in the Capitol building and videos,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick in a court hearing Thursday in Hammond.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Andrew Rodovich said, “there’s probable cause to believe he committed misdemeanor crimes while in Washington, D.C., which is a violation of his release,” during a bond revocation hearing held virtually from U.S. District Court.
Rodovich ordered Kelly, 32, of Hammond, to remain in custody until his Feb. 11 sentencing before U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon on drug trafficking charges. Kelly pleaded guilty to the charges, which were filed four years ago against him and other current and former members of the
Latin Kings street gang as part of a wider investigation.
Kelly, Nozick said, was out of the district without permission when he went to Washington and had filed a motion to go to Texas. According to that filing, Kelly requested permission to travel to Dallas for the day on Jan. 2 to attend a paid speaking engagement. Kelly has said in a video posted on one of his social media sites that he thought he had permission to travel to Washington, D.C., as well.
Two misdemeanor charges also are pending in federal court in Washington for his actions there, Nozick said during the court hearing, and noted he had a copy of the probable cause documents in that case.
“The more serious allegation is the commission of new crimes,” Nozick said.
The pending charges include disrupting the orderly business of government by entering or remaining in restricted grounds and entering the Capitol without authorization to do so, Nozick said. The misdemeanor charges carry a sentence of one year
each, he said.
Kelly, who was facing a minimum sentence of 46 months on the drug charges, could serve up to 10 additional years if convicted of committing an offense while on bond, Rodovich said.
Kelly hasn’t had any bond violations in four years, said his defense attorney Joshua Adams.
“We do have a legal defense in this case,” Adams said.
Adams asked that if Kelly’s bond was revoked, he receive home detention until his sentencing date, noting he has a live-in girlfriend and eight children in his care.
“I believe these are exceptional circumstances,” Adams said. He said that if Kelly receives a 46-month sentence on the drug charges, “that’s close to four years he’ll be away from his children.”
Kelly did not speak at the hearing. During the course of the hearing, Nozick said, he received pictures of Kelly taken Dec. 12 in front of the Washington Monument that appeared to be from his social media pages.
“It looks like he might have been out of the district on further dates,” Nozick said.
In August 2018, Rodovich said, he also received a petition to revoke Kelly’s bond and denied the petition at the time, though he did modify the terms of the bond.
He said the government proved Kelly went to Washington without the court’s permission and while he didn’t know what the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington would do, Kelly was warned that 10 years would be added to his sentence if he violated the terms of his bond release.
“Mr. Kelly is facing potentially a substantial sentence beyond 46 months,” Rodovich said. “He is not a candidate for pretrial release.”
Kelly spoke at an Oct. 17 “Freedom Rally” at Central Park Plaza in downtown Valparaiso. The event was sponsored by the Porter County Republican Party and a flyer for the rally described Kelly as a “speaker and conservative social media superstar.”
Mike Simpson, chair of the county party organization, has said party officials “had no idea” about Kelly’s criminal past and only found out about it after seeing Kelly’s social media posts that appear to depict him in Washington, D.C.
Kelly has said in one of his videos that he has been open about his life and party officials knew about his background when they asked him to speak.