I Went to High School With a Capitol Rioter. I'm Not Surprised He Ended Up Here.

     Riley Douglas Kasper, in the course of a day, went from a nobody, a common thug, to a domestic terrorist who participated in one of the most infamous events in American history. His family will likely try the predictable excuses that they never could have seen this coming, that he's not a violent person, that he's a good man, etc. Aside from the fact that that doesn't account for his actions on January 6th even if it were true, it actually is completely false.

     Riley Kasper was born on December 4th, 1998. During his childhood, he made a number of YouTube videos under the online name "disturbed1953." They ranged from a video of him spinning in his chair to one of his then-two-year-old cousin drumming to hunting and fishing tips to a video of two cats procreating. The videos brought a mixture of emotions. There were some existential thoughts with that final video, published on June 17th, 2010, knowing that those cats are now both dead. (I'm a cat person and an animal lover.) It was sad to see a young child having fun with his family knowing he would grow up to be a felon. However, there was also some evidence that he would wind up on the path he did. 

     I began my freshman year of high school in September 2016; Kasper graduated in May of 2017. During that single year I went to high school with Mr. Kasper, I heard his name being called over the PA system asking him to report to the principal's office no less than half a dozen times that I can recall. He was the sort of student that was placed in the desk in the front corner of the room during the times I saw him in study hall and in an agriculture class we both took. He got into back-and-forths with educators multiple times, and, while I didn't know it then and have no way of unsealing sealed records now, a federal affidavit indicates that he has a juvenile record. His behavior didn't get better after he left high school.

     In October 2019, Kasper was arrested for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months behind bars. The slow progress of this case highlights the debilitating impact of COVID-19 on America's legal system. The arrest was after a fight with a couple named Molly and Kevin and another female named Mariah. He made his initial appearance that month and was ordered not to have contact with the three, ultimately being released on $150 cash bail. He decided it would be a good idea not to show up for court, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest in December 2019. He was brought in by the Brown County Sheriff's Office but ultimately did not face any new charges.

     During this time, Kasper moved from his residence on Doty Street in Green Bay to a trailer park on Pleasant View Drive in Pulaski. He pleaded not guilty and was scheduled for a status conference before his attorney, Richard Zoellner, withdrew from the case. It took six months for a public defender to be appointed to his case, by which point he had already attended a hearing via Zoom, apparently had trouble with his internet, had a bench warrant issued for his arrest, and then reappeared after remedying the problem, which resulted in the warrant being quashed. In September 2021, just two months later, he appeared late for his hearing, which resulted in another bench warrant being issued and another bench warrant being quashed. In early 2022, he moved from Pulaski to Ashland, moving briefly to an apartment before settling at 717 14th Avenue, 54806; a picture of his home, estimated to be worth around $160,000, is included below. The Zoom hearing resulting in a bench warrant that was quashed happened yet a third time; this case remains open, and his plea hearing is on August 15th.

     In January 2020, he was taken to court for paternity and child support after apparently fathering a child with a woman a year his junior named Isabella Hacker. Just over two weeks later, he was arrested for a crime more serious than disorderly conduct: forgery, a felony punishable by up to six years in prison, for passing a bad check to a man named Bruce. Released on $1,000 signature bond, he was initially scheduled to go on trial on March 30th, 2021, but the trial was postponed when Zoellner withdrew as his attorney. The proceedings for this case have proceeded in the same hearings as the proceedings in the disorderly conduct case, so it goes without saying that his plea hearing on this case is on August 15th.

     He's been involved in other civil cases, aside from paternity, as well. His parents Neil and Sara had to sue to evict both he and Hacker from their home in Saxon, Wisconsin, which, based on the timing, suggests that it had something to do with his actions on January 6th being discovered by the FBI. He has also been a plaintiff, and is involved in mediation for several different cases in which he is suing a man named Tou Xiong and several of his relatives; because it is small claims court, details on the specifics of the case are scarce.

     Then came January 6th. On January 2nd, Kasper had posted on Facebook. "Be there January 6th. Will be wild." On January 5th, he had posted a picture out of his windshield that showed him driving southbound on a highway with the caption, "On the road to Washington, D.C." He posted pictures of himself driving through Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, and other cities leading to the U.S. Capitol. Kasper was turned in by a confidential informant who knew him, which makes it highly likely that I knew the CI. Said individual was able to gather screenshots from Kasper's since-deleted Facebook page of a post titled "Trump rally Washington, D.C." with images from the National Mall. In YouTube videos, most notably one posted by the channel Cop Watch, Kasper can be seen in his gray sweatshirt with a camouflage ski mask. He says, "started chucking shit at the other cops; so we can't really say we were peaceful." He can be seen in this video and numerous officer body-worn cameras spraying an orange substance consistent with pepper spray. Riley Kasper also sent another confidential informant a picture of himself near the "Area Closed" sign where the first breach of the Capitol grounds occurred. 

     The messages Kasper sent to multiple friends of his are the most telling in terms of both his actions and his attitude before, during, and after the insurrection: "I pepper sprayed three cops so bad they got undressed and went home, gently brazed many others several times. I basically organized my own little militia and we fucking took over Congress... I mean the crowd gave support, but it was my group that busted the first gate and kept chasing the cops down and pushing them into the capital [sic]... fought cops all day got pepper sprayed more times than I can count, maced, hit with batons, and fucking shot and then kept going until now... A lot of the people who were there were planning to go back for Biden's inauguration or hopefully lack there of [sic]... [to a friend urging him to come back on January 20th]... If you're worried about pepper spray and tear gas don't be... mostly works on Biden bitches lol... [referring to police] grab your pepper spray and charge those fuckers... Dude, cops are pussies, they absolutely do not want to get pepper sprayed [Who does?]... start spraying they start running for cover like you're coming at them with an ak [sic]... My advice, if they use rubber bullets I'd skip right to the real ones to shoot back... It's pretty exciting. It's like the most real version of paintball ever. But with pepper spray, flash bangs, and tear gas grenades to throw back at those bitches... And will beat the cops off of you if they ever get ahold of you... tomorrow I'm going to start making pepper balls... But there is definitely something satisfying about pepper spraying cops in riot gear and watching them run like a bitch... Your gun isn't an exact replica but it looks real enough to a cop who's getting the shit beat of [sic] of them and has been pepper sprayed so much their eyes are blurry and watering... Rioting is not easy work man... We're gonna be the hero's [sic] of the battle bro... But yeah, one dude [cop] got pulled into the crowd and slammed on the ground on his back and his club, pepper spray, cuffs, radio everything got ripped from his belt, somehow I took out my baton and got right down in his face and screamed just go home then stood up offered him a hand to get up and give him his radio cause I had that lol... Dude probably thought he was gonna die that day lol." That's just a small portion of what he wrote in the days after the insurrection. Worthless piece of shit. Not only did he essentially try to murder at least three police officers and intend to try again on Inauguration Day, but the inbred degenerate couldn't even write at the same level as an elementary school student.

     Kasper has been charged with assault on a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous or deadly weapon, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol building or grounds. He has pleaded not guilty, a plea entered at his first court appearance in May. This is common practice: either he never intends to plead guilty or he will eventually do so but needs a number of months to work out the specific charges he will plead guilty to and agree on a sentencing range. He faces a combined maximum of 55 years in federal prison. While, whether he takes his case to trial or pleads guilty, he is likely to get a much shorter sentence if he is convicted, the fact that he is facing this sort of time should send a stark message to Riley Kasper that actions like his will not be tolerated in a democracy.