Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – An Alabama man pleaded guilty today to a felony charge for 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.

            Kaleb Dillard, 27, of Columbia, Alabama, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, a felony offense. U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 27, 2023.  

            According to court documents, Dillard traveled from his home in Alabama to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. After the rally, Dillard made his way to the Capitol building and emerged at the front of the crowd gathered near the East Rotunda Doors. Here, court documents say that Dillard used a metal tool to smash a window of the doors.

            Court documents say that, at approximately 2:26 p.m., Dillard forced his way past officers attempting to close the doors and entered the Capitol building. Dillard then grabbed a U.S. Capitol police officer, who was attempting to close the doors, from behind and threw the officer to the ground.

            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 Northern District of Alabama.

            The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified Dillard as #166 on its seeking information photos, and the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office. Valuable assistance provided by the FBI’s Mobile Field Office and the Charleston Resident Agency of the FBI’s Columbia Field Office, as well as the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

            In the 30 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,069 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. 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 – Brittany Bailey, 34, of Columbia, Missouri, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for the sexual exploitation of children, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Sarah Linden of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.

            Bailey pleaded guilty, on August 25, 2021, to advertising child pornography. In addition to the prison term and supervised release, U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ordered Bailey to register as a sex offender for 25 years, and to pay restitution in the amount of $25,000 to the minor victims she harmed.

            According to court documents, in 2019, Bailey was involved with an online Internet group called “Taboo Parents.” She engaged with a person she believed to be another member of the group, but who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Believing that she was chatting with a pedophile, Bailey sent photographs of herself telling him she wanted him to sexually abuse the child shown in the images that she sent. Bailey went on to create other online chat group dedicated to exchanging child sexual abuse material, and she invited users to and banned users from the group. She setup rules for the members of the groups, and she told members about her sexual preferences and encouraged them to share child sex abuse material with the group. After making these comments, multiple users shared child pornography in the group chat. Bailey shared four different videos of child pornography in the chat. The videos all depicted young girls, some as young as toddlers. One month later, on May 1, 2019, agents executed a search warrant at Bailey’s residence in Columbia, Missouri. They recovered her electronic devices, including her cellular phone, which contained images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. 

            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 case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with assistance from the Kansas City Field Office’s Jefferson City Resident Agency. It was prosecuted, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, by Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Burrell of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Daeyon Ross, 22, of the District of Columbia, is charged by indictment alleging six criminal counts related to a carjacking spree, on July 2, 2023, that left one Maryland resident and two dogs dead. The incident, which occurred over a span of 20-30 minutes, began in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and ended in a shootout with police officers in Northeast Washington, D.C.    

            Ross was indicted by a grand jury in the District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of: assault with intent to kill while armed; carjacking; assault on a police officer while armed; assault with a dangerous weapon; using, carrying, possessing, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence; and unlawful possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment of more than one year. 

            According to the government’s evidence, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Air Support Unit (Falcon) spotted Ross driving recklessly at high speeds from Washington D.C. into Prince George’s County, Maryland. While in Prince George’s County, Ross carjacked multiple cars while armed with a stolen handgun equipped with a large capacity magazine. In the process, Ross shot to death a 56-year old off-duty Metro bus driver and two dogs. 

            Ross proceeded to re-enter Washington D.C., where he crashed one of the carjacked vehicles in a residential neighborhood in Northeast D.C.  Ross then used his handgun to carjack yet another vehicle from a D.C. resident who was returning from church. Ross attempted to flee again before crashing into Maryland law enforcement officers that had continued to pursue him from Maryland into D.C.  Ross then opened fire on law enforcement. Officers returned fire and Ross surrendered shortly thereafter. Neither Ross nor the officers were harmed in the shootout. 

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin F. Song and Alec Levy of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

            The case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Violent Crime Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department. It is brought with the assistance of and in coordination with the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – A Pennsylvania woman was found guilty in the District of Columbia today of eight felonies and one misdemeanor charge related to her actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Her 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 presidential election.

            Rachel Marie Powell, 41, of Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, was found guilty of all nine charges against her following a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for Oct. 17, 2023.

            Powell was convicted of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; destruction of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

            According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, Powell was present at the Capitol building and grounds wearing a pink hat, black jacket, and carrying a bullhorn. Powell is seen in multiple videos and photographs from that day using a bullhorn to instruct others how to further gain control of the Capitol. One video of Powell depicts a group of individuals inside a room of the Capitol discussing how to further penetrate the building. One individual is heard asking, “what’s the floor plan?” Another shouts, “We just need a plan. We need enough people. We need to push forward.” Shortly after, Powell is clearly seen speaking through the bullhorn and giving very detailed instructions about the layout of the building to others in the room. Powell can be heard stating that she had just been inside an adjacent room and that they should “coordinate together if you are going to take this building.”  Powell also notes that they “have another window to break.”

            According to court documents, law enforcement authorities identified multiple images and videos of Powell during the events of January 6^th including some instances of her using a large pipe as a ramming device to breach windows of the Capitol to gain access. Video footage from inside the Capitol building shows Powell enter the building at approximately 2:41 p.m. through the West Lower Terrace exterior door along with a large crowd of rioters.

            The 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 Western District of Pennsylvania. 

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

            In the 30 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,069 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. 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 – A South Carolina man has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges for 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 presidential election.

            Tyler Bradley Dykes, 25, of Bluffton, South Carolina, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with nine offenses, including the felony offenses of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees.

            Dykes is also charged with seven other misdemeanor offenses related to his actions that day, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of government business or official functions, engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of government business or official functions; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against any person or property in any restricted building or grounds; or attempt or conspire to do so; the person, during and in relation to the offense, uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm; utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of congress or either House of Congress, engage in any act of physical violence in the grounds or any of the Capitol buildings, parade, demonstrate, or picket in any of the Capitol buildings.

            Dykes was arrested in Charlottesville, Virginia, and made his initial appearance on July 17, 2023, in the Western District of Virginia.

            According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Dykes attended the “Stop the Steal” rally and, afterward, marched with others to the U.S. Capitol building. Court documents say that Dykes can be seen in open-source video tearing down barriers with other rioters as they approached restricted grounds. Eventually, Dykes joined a mob of rioters as it attacked and overwhelmed a line of law enforcement officers attempting to protect the Capitol’s east side.

            As detailed in court documents, Dykes later fought to hold open the Columbus Door on the east side of the building as law enforcement officers attempted to secure the entrance. Shortly thereafter, Dykes can be seen in open-source video stealing a riot shield from a law enforcement officer and raising it over his head to keep it from them.

            Court records say that law enforcement then deployed pepper spray in Dykes’s direction in an attempt to subdue him and regain control of the shield. After successfully stealing the riot shield, additional video footage depicts Dykes holding the shield while he parades around various areas inside the Capitol building.

            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 Offices for the Western District of Virginia and the District of South Carolina.

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

            In the 30 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,069 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. The investigation remains ongoing.

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

            A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.