Capitol rioting: FBI asking public for help identifying perpetrators
Fox News correspondent David Spunt joins 'Special Report' with more from the Justice Department.
Federal officials released additional details Friday about crimes for which several people now face charges following Wednesday’s riots and attacks on Capitol Hill.
A senior Justice Department official said that law enforcement took Richard Barnett, 60, into custody in Little Rock, Ark., after a viral photograph showed him sitting inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with one leg resting on a desk.
He was expected to make a court appearance in Arkansas and will be extradited to Washington, D.C., the Justice Department said. After the break-in, Barnett, a resident of Gravette, Ark., told KFSM, the CBS affiliated TV station in Fort Smith, Ark., he was looking for the bathroom when he saw that the door to Pelosi’s office was open.
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Richard Barnett, 60, allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during a riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. (- Washington County, Arkansas)
"I sat down here in my desk. I’m a taxpayer. I’m a patriot. That ain’t her desk — we loaned her that desk," he reportedly said. "And she ain’t appreciating the desk, so I thought I would sit down and appreciate the desk."
He was charged with violent entry and theft of public property, among other things. Previous reports allege he took a letter from Pelosi's office.
"The shocking images of Mr. Barnett with his boots up on a desk in the Speaker of the House’s office on Wednesday was repulsive," said Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. "Those who are proven to have committed criminal acts during the storming of the Capitol will face justice."
Investigators identified Barnett through Department of Motor Vehicle records and law enforcement databases they compared with photos that showed him in Pelosi's office, the Capitol Police Department said.
Richard Barnett, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, sits inside the office of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
A second suspect, Lonnie Coffman, 70, Falkville, Ala., is accused of having two handguns, an M4 Carbine assault rifle, and 11 Molotov cocktails that included gasoline and apparent homemade napalm, the official said.
Coffman was identified after police linked him to a suspicious red GMC pick-up truck with Alabama plates. He remains in custody pending a Jan. 12 detention hearing.
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Mark Leffingwell was also charged, accused of knowingly entering restricted ground and assaulting an officer after he entered the Capitol. Court papers released Thursday in connection with his U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) arrest show Leffingwell repeatedly punched a USCP officer in the helmet and chest.
The fourth man is Christopher Michael Alberts, of Maryland, accused of illegally entering the Capitol while in possession of a loaded Taurus 9mm handgun, as well as a separate magazine filled with ammunition. USCP said Alberts, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, "immediately tried to flee" before police detained him, court papers show. He is accused of also having a pocketknife at the time.
Alberts told police he had the gun "for personal protection and he did not intend on using the firearm to harm anyone," court papers show.
A Republican delegate in the West Virginia Legislature named Derrick Evans will soon be charged in connection with his actions Wednesday, the senior official said.
Also charged was Cleveland Meredith, who is accused of making interstate threats to Pelosi. A federal judge denied him bail Friday, saying he has been charged with possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition in connection with his actions during the Capitol riots.
His court-appointed attorney argued that he should be released pending trial because his client's actions weren't a "crime of violence." Meredith has a detention hearing Wednesday. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted on all charges and a $250,000 fine.
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Joshua Pruitt and Matthew Council, of Florida, face charges for knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. Council faces an additional charge of violent entry and disorderly conduct for allegedly pushing an officer.
Several others were charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority with intent to disrupt government business or official functions, and engaging in disorderly conduct and violent entry on Capitol grounds.
Those charged with such crimes were identified as Cindy Fitchett, of Virginia, Michael Curzio and Douglas Sweet, both of Florida, Bradley Ruskelas, of Illinois, Terry Brown, of Pennsylvania and Thomas Gallagher.
Officials previously announced the arrests of 82 individuals at the state, local and federal levels, according to reports.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office early Friday morning released 40 photos of people who still are wanted in connection with Wednesday’s events.
The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. said Friday morning that law enforcement agencies have received roughly 17,000 tips since releasing images of people wanted in connection with Wednesday's "insurrection."
Ken Kohl, a senior official in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said Friday investigators found "no indication" of Antifa involvement in Wednesday's riots. There also were no instances of members of the anti-fascism movement posing as Trump supporters to frame them.
When asked on Friday whether the U.S. Attorney's Office or the DOJ was looking at pursuing incitement charges against President Trump or any of his associates, a senior DOJ official responded: "We don’t expect any charges of that nature."
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The FBI is asking anyone who recognizes someone from the wanted posters or who witnessed any of Wednesday’s activity to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit information online here.
Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.
