The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Jan. 6—three years to the day after the U.S. Capitol breach—that it had arrested three “January 6 fugitives,” which comes amid concerns about the treatment of dozens of Jan. 6 detainees who remain jailed without trial.
The FBI’s Tampa division said in a statement that agents executed warrants on Saturday morning at a ranch in Groveland, Florida, where all three individuals were taken into custody.
“The subjects taken into custody are January 6 fugitives Jonathan Daniel Pollock, Olivia Michele Pollock, and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson III,” the agency stated in a post on X.
All three defendants are scheduled to make a court appearance in federal court in Ocala, Florida, on Jan. 8.
The FBI did not provide any further details regarding their capture.
More Details
The three detainees were wanted by the FBI since federal arrest warrants were issued for each on June 25, 2021, with charges common to all including assault and resisting arrest, with wanted posters labeling them as to be considered “armed and dangerous.”
The FBI advertised a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr. Pollock, described as a 24-year-old welder and ironworker from Lakeland.
Mr. Pollock has been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding of certain officers or employees, aiding and abetting, theft of government property, being in a restricted building or grounds without permission, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Wanted posters for 33-year-old Ms. Pollock and 27-year-old Mr. Hutchinson listed the same alleged crimes, with the exception of theft of government property.
All three were previously arrested and indicted on July 1, 2021, along with two others—Joshua Christopher Doolin and Michael Steven Perkins— according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). But while Mr. Doolin was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Mr. Perkins got 4 years behind bars, the other three suspects failed to show up at their respective trials.
“We’ve been trying to locate Mr. Pollock since last summer,” FBI Tampa Acting Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said in a statement on March 25, 2022.
“The allegations against him aren’t going away and must be dealt with. The FBI is patient but determined to bring to justice those responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” Mr. Virmani said at the time, when the FBI was offering a $15,000 reward, which was later upped to $30,000.
The arrest of the three suspects comes on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
Jan. 6 Defendants
Over 1,200 people have been charged with various crimes in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol incident, ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like seditious conspiracy or assaulting police officers.
Of these, roughly 750 have been sentenced, with nearly two-thirds receiving some time in prison.
The longest prison sentence—22 years—was handed down to Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors alleged was as a plot to stop the transfer of power from then President Donald Trump to then President-elect Joe Biden during the certification of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Dozens of Jan. 6 detainees are still languishing in jail awaiting trial three years after the Capitol incident.
Biden Celebrates Jailing of Jan. 6 Participants
On Jan. 5, President Biden traveled to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to deliver a speech to mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol incident, claiming that the potential return of President Trump to the White House poses a threat to democracy.
“The choice is clear,” he said. “Donald Trump’s campaign is about him, not America, not you. Donald Trump’s campaign is obsessed with the past, not the future. He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power.”
“Our campaign is different. For me and Kamala, our campaign is about America. It’s about you,” he added.
President Trump responded on Friday during a campaign rally in Iowa, accusing the president of having “weaponized the government” against him.
“What he’s done to this country is unthinkable,” President Trump said. “Biden’s record is an unbroken streak of weakness, incompetence, corruption, and failure,” he continued, while labeling President Biden’s campaign event in Pennsylvania as “pathetic” and “fear-mongering.”
During his speech, President Biden also referred to the events on Jan. 6, 2021—and those jailed as a consequence.
“Knowing how his mind works now, he had one—he had one act left—one desperate act available to him: the violence of January the 6th,” the president said.
“And since that day, more than 1,200 people have been charged for their assault on the Capitol. Nearly 900 of them have been convicted or pled guilty. Collectively, to date, they have been sentenced to more than 840 years in prison,” President Biden continued, drawing applause from the audience.
“And what has Trump done? Instead of calling them ‘criminals,’ he’s called these … insurrectionists ‘patriots,'” he said. “And he promised to pardon them if he returns to office.”
President Trump has said on numerous occasions that he thinks the Jan. 6 detainees are being subjected to mistreatment at the hands of the Justice Department under President Biden and has vowed to issue pardons.
From The Epoch Times