Month: August 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – A Colorado man was found guilty in the District of Columbia today of three felony charges for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            Jeffrey Sabol, 53, of Kittredge, Colorado, was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, federal robbery, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon and aiding and abetting. Sabol was convicted following a stipulated bench trial before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. Sabol is to be sentenced on Jan. 19, 2024.

            According to the government’s evidence, Sabol traveled to Washington, D.C., with several members of what he had described as a “neighborhood watch” group to attend a January 6 rally at the Ellipse.

            Sabol brought a trauma kit, a buck knife, a helmet, and zip ties to the rally. After the event, Sabol and at least one other member of the group walked to the Capitol. As they approached, Sabol observed that, in his words, “a battle was already going on” and heard munitions (which Sabol believed were flashbangs) in the distance. Along the way, Sabol separated from the group and began grappling with the police officers who were protecting the Capitol grounds.

            At about 2 p.m., U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers were positioned to the west of the Capitol building. Many of the officers carried riot shields. At 2:04 p.m., Sabol and another man pushed a third rioter – who himself was holding a riot shield – from behind, propelling him forward so that he ran into the police line. As the officers worked to repel them, Sabol kept pushing against the police until a USCP officer pushed back, causing Sabol to fall down a set of steps.

            At about 2:33 p.m., Sabol and another rioter grabbed at a helmet-visor held by an MPD officer and engaged in a tug-of-war over it. Sabol then made his way to the Lower West Terrace tunnel and archway. At approximately 4:27 p.m., an MPD officer near the archway was knocked to the ground. As the officer attempted to defend himself, Sabol reached for the officer’s baton, grabbed it, and ripped it out of his hands. Sabol used such force in wrestling the baton from the officer that he fell backward down the steps.

            Sabol climbed back up the Lower West Terrace steps, moved towards the archway, and assisted two rioters dragging another officer down the steps and into the mob, where the rioters beat the officer with a flagpole and a baton. 

            In the days following January 6, Sabol deleted text messages and other communications from his cell phone. He also asked another individual to delete a “selfie video” which depicted Sabol immediately after he had been pepper sprayed and in which Sabol stated that he had “tried to rush the front gate, the front door.” Sabol also destroyed his laptop computers in a microwave oven and dropped his cell phone into a body of water.

            Sabol booked a flight to Zurich, Switzerland. When he was unable to board the aircraft, he rented a car and drove toward Westchester, New York, where local law enforcement arrested him on Jan. 11, 2021.

            This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

            The case was investigated by the FBI’s New York and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In the 31 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,106 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Michael Caldwell, 28, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty to stabbing a man to death on June 4, 2023, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Caldwell pleaded guilty on August 14, 2023, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a charge of voluntary manslaughter while armed. The Honorable Marybeth Raffinan accepted the plea and scheduled sentencing for October 16, 2023.

            According to the government’s evidence, on June 4, 2023, at approximately 11:30 p.m., the defendant, Michael Caldwell, and the victim, Damien Thompson, engaged in a verbal argument in the street in front of 4305 Halley Ter SE, Washington, D.C. At one point the victim threw a bottle at Caldwell, at which point Caldwell removed a knife from his pants. The two men continued to verbally argue for approximately 45 seconds, at which point the victim attempted to strike Caldwell with a plastic chair. Caldwell lunged at the victim and stabbed him in the chest, causing the victim to fall to the ground unconscious. Caldwell then proceeded to stab the victim eight more times in the torso before walking away from the scene.

            The victim, Damien Thompson, sustained nine stab wounds to the torso and died a short time later. Caldwell was arrested the next day by the Metropolitan Police Department. He has been in custody ever since. 

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Graves and Acting Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Karina Hernandez and Lead Paralegal Specialist Sharon Newman. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Hall, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – An Iowa man was sentenced in the District of Columbia today on seven offenses, including one felony, committed during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol breach. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth to 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution and fines.

            Kelly was found guilty following a trial by jury on May 9, 2023, of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony offense. In addition, Kelly was convicted of six other misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining on the floor of the Congress, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

            According to court documents and evidence presented during the trial, Kelly was one of the very few rioters who breached the Senate Chamber during his participation in the January 6^th attack on the Capitol. Once inside the Senate Chamber, Kelly ascended the Senate Dais, leafed through sensitive documents, and took photos of them.

            According to court documents, Kelly drove to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, 2021, from his home in Iowa. On January 6, Kelly joined a large group of people, including his parents, for a rally at the Ellipse. After the rally, Kelly and his parents marched towards the Capitol building.

            Kelly eventually made his way past the barriers to the West Terrace Courtyard, where rioters had broken into the Senate Wing door and flooded into the building. Kelly used his phone to capture video of the scene. His footage showed shattered glass windows, rioters, and police officers in riot gear guarding the inside of the Capitol.

            Around that same time, a rioter began bashing in the Parliamentarian’s Door just across the courtyard from Kelly. After the rioter bashed in the window with a metal pole and opened the door for the mob, rioters rushed into the building, Kelly included.

            Kelly entered the Capitol building through the Parliamentarian’s Door at approximately 2:43 p.m. Upon entering, Kelly watched as another rioter used a metal stand to bash in an office door. Across the hallway, rioters had already breached the Parliamentarian’s Office. Kelly entered that office for a short time, walked out and down the hallway a few more steps, and again entered the office through a second door.

            Kelly entered the ransacked office, shooting video on his phone. Shortly after, Kelly rejoined the rioters in the hallway and faced off against an outnumbered line of officers attempting to keep the rioters back. Despite the clear indications that they should leave, the rioters charged forward into the police line. The mob then grabbed a rioter under arrest and pulled him back into the crowd. Chanting “USA! USA! USA!” and screaming, “THIS IS OURS!” the rioters successfully pushed the police line all the way back to the end of the hallway. Kelly then approached a large bay window, looked out the window towards the rioters still outside the building, pumped his fist in the air, and smiled.

            Kelly then joined the mob as it started down a second hallway and encountered another police line. To the rioters’ right and front, officers held a police line guarding hallways that led into the Capitol building. To the rioters’ left, there was an exit. Kelly stepped towards the police line until he was face-to-face with the officers guarding the stairway that led to the Senate Chamber. As Kelly confronted the police line, he ignored officers’ repeated orders to exit out of the nearby door. Rioters promptly started to “push and shove” the police officers. After tussling with the officers, one rioter near Kelly stepped through the police line. When an officer turned to grab the rioter, Kelly took a step forward and created a gap for all the rioters behind him to “pour through” the now-broken police line, opening a path to access the staircase that led directly to the Senate Chamber.

            From there, Kelly ascended the stairs to the second floor and ultimately made his way onto the Senate floor as rioters flooded the Chamber, yelling, screaming, and ransacking the Senators’ desks. Kelly made his way to the head of the room – to the Senate Dais – where shortly before, the Vice President had presided over Senate convened to certify the electoral college vote.

            Kelly riffled through sensitive documents and took video footage of the papers on the Vice President’s desk, including a ballot sheet, handwritten notes, and a script. Kelly then joined a group of rioters and “prayed” to “send a message to the tyrants, the communists, and the globalists that this is our nation, not theirs.” Kelly then rifled through sensitive documents on another desk in the Senate Chamber.

            Kelly exited the Chamber soon after officers entered. As he walked out of the Capitol, he pumped his fist in the air and smiled. After Kelly left the Capitol grounds, he sent texts to his mother declaring, “I am not dead and not in jail” and “I’m safe and sound. Only a little tear [g]as in the back of my throat.”

            Kelly sent the photos that he took in the Senate Chamber to several individuals, including a reporter, and he sent video footage of the siege to his friends.

            On January 18, 2021, FBI agents arrested Kelly in Cedar Rapids. On Dec. 3, 2021, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Kelly with seven counts,

            This case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

            This case was investigated by the FBI’s Omaha and Washington Field Office, with valuable assistance provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police.

            In the 31 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,106 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

            Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.