Month: September 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON — An Oregon man has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges, including assaulting law enforcement, related to his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 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.

            Ryan Wilson, 40, of Athena, Oregon, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. Wilson is also charged with several misdemeanors, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

            Wilson was arrested today in Portland, Oregon, and will make his initial appearance in the District of Oregon.

            According to court documents, Wilson was identified among the crowd of rioters in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on Jan. 6, 2021. Wilson wore a distinctive plaid button-down shirt and, at times, a black balaclava. Wilson was captured on Capitol building surveillance footage outside the tunnel entrance, standing next to his father, Duke Wilson, at approximately 2:56 p.m.

            Court documents say that Wilson and his father made their way into the Tunnel toward the police line and, at about 2:58 p.m., Wilson threw a water bottle at the police. By approximately 3:00 p.m., Wilson was standing directly in front of the police line, separated only by shields that the police officers were using to defend themselves. At that time, a rioter behind Wilson began to thrust a pipe toward the police. Wilson then grabbed the pipe and rammed it toward the police repeatedly and forcefully. Wilson then took steps to re-position himself and used the pipe to thrust near the heads and faces of the officers.

            The police then deployed OC spray, which hit Wilson. He then threw the pipe toward the police line, turned around, and exited the Tunnel.

            This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

            This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Portland and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In the 32 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,100 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 396 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

            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 Otis-Currie, 27, of Adelanto, California, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 121 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release for accessing and viewing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs, of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, and Acting Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Otis-Currie pleaded guilty on September 11, 2022. According to court documents, on October 1, 2020, an undercover law enforcement officer (“UC”) entered the “you.ngshare” KIK group, a group that was designed for members to discuss the sexual abuse of children, and to  trade child pornography. The UC continued to monitor activity in the group over the next several days. Between October 1, 2020 and November 17, 2020, approximately 400 users joined the “you.ngshare” group. On October 18, 2020, a user later identified as the defendant posted a link to the group that contained approximately 2,250 image and video files depicting the sexual abuse of children. Many of these videos depicted the rape and physical torture of several young children. The folder shared by the defendant also contained a subfolder entitled “Incest,” which contained approximately 250 additional videos and images depicting child erotica and child pornography.

            Otis-Currie was previously convicted in California in 2019 of possession or control of child pornography and was on supervised probation when he committed the instant offense. A law enforcement search of the defendant’s phone revealed additional saved video and image files depicting the sexual abuse of children. The defendant admitted that he was a member of different online groups in which child pornography was discussed and shared.

            This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

            This investigation also received valuable assistance from Los Angeles Field Office – Victorville Resident Agency. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Janani Iyengar and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Forman, of the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.