Insurrection Detection

     A Lakeland, Florida, man who stole an officer's riot shield and kept it as a souvenir is now at a halfway house in Orlando after completing his sentence at a federal prison. Joshua Doolin, a former EMT who ran from news crews after being released on bond, was convicted at trial in March 2023 of felony civil disorder and three related misdemeanors. According to prosecutors, he filmed co-defendants Jonathan and Olivia Pollock, Michael Steven Perkins, and Joseph Hutchinson III repeatedly assaulting police officers before getting ahold of a stolen riot shield and using it to push against police. Doolin was proud of what he had done, saying he "didn't mind" being killed during the insurrection and even contemplating bringing a firearm to the Capitol, something he ultimately decided against.      Doolin was sentenced to 18 months in prison, three years of probation, and a $175 special assessment. In the spring of 2024, Doolin filed to have his prison sentenc...

     Federal prosecutors have filed a memorandum seeking 72 months (six years) in prison for a North Carolina resident convicted of assaulting law enforcement during the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Additionally, the government is seeking to have Anthony Mastanduno placed on three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,630 in fees and restitution.      Mastanduno, 61, a resident of Rutherford County, pleaded guilty in March to six felonies and three misdemeanors for actions during the attack that spanned several hours and were oftentimes violent. Mastanduno entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing Door just four minutes after it had been breached by the mob that first entered the building. He spent 20 minutes inside the Capitol building, where he helped rush past a line of police officers, one of whom said while being interviewed that he thought his kids would be growing up without him. The North Carolinian then posed for a p...

     Earlier this month, Roanoke resident Casey Tryon-Castro, known to online sleuths as "Hat Hag," was convicted of four felony charges and four misdemeanors for robbing, assaulting, and obstructing police on restricted Capitol grounds during the insurrection. She is set to be sentenced later this year and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.       The last employment record I could find for Tryon-Castro is as an investor at Four Brothers Builders, LLC. When I contacted them via social media about her employment status, they denied her involvement with the company and asked that I never contact them again. So, as most people would, I immediately contacted them with a screenshot of a page that listed her as an agent at the company and had her address alongside it. The page was from September 2021, and the company replied to say that she had been an investor but that her shares had been sold in late 2021 or early 2022. They then asked me sever...

     Odin is the god of war and death, but I don't think Utah resident Odin Meacham will be making it to Valhalla any time soon, unless there's a federal prison that happens to be named that. Meacham was one of the worst offenders on January 6th. Just after 2:00 PM that day, he tried to pull a bike rack away from officers before rushing toward an officer and striking them with a large wooden pole just seconds later. Approximately five minutes later, he picked up a black metal pole and threw it at another officer, hitting them in the hand. Meacham then pointed at and taunted the officer he had just assaulted. Two minutes later, he shouted, "Lean in!" in an attempt to organize an assault on police before trying to rob an officer of his baton.       Yesterday, Meacham was convicted by a judge of seven felony charges and one misdemeanor charge for his violent crimes that day; he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in Septem...

     Sean McHugh, an Auburn resident with a significant criminal history, was convicted of felony charges of assaulting law enforcement and obstruction of an official proceeding for his egregious actions that day, which included trying to breach barricades at least four times, inciting the mob and insulting law enforcement with a bullhorn, spraying chemical spray at officers, and pushing a large metal "Trump" sign into the police line. He was sentenced to 78 months in prison, which he is serving through December 2026 at the FCI at Victorville. After that, he gets to spend three years on probation and pay $7,200 in fines, fees, and restitution.      Jorge Aaron Riley, a Sacramento resident and self-proclaimed "Native Republican" who stormed the Capitol on January 6th "for the war," pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is serving his sentence through November 2024 at FCI Lompo...

     Buckle up when I say that this is one of the most disturbing January 6th cases I have ever seen, even though the defendant in this case has not been charged with any acts of violence or property destruction. I've already written about Michael Marroquin here . He spent over an hour inside the Capitol, shouted, "Keep moving," when insurrectionists came upon a police line, and made it to the hallway outside the House of Representatives where Ashli Babbitt was shot. While there, he took a now-viral photo of an officer with his firearm pointed at Marroquin. Marroquin shouted that the officer was a "traitor" and dared the police to arrest him.       Marroquin has a disturbing past. In the article published soon after his January 6th arrest, I described his arrest for human trafficking in Bolivia. In 1989, Marroquin was diagnosed with lupus nephritis and given six months to live. He has gone on to live 35 years, and this seeming divine intervention led h...

     Steve Bannon is going to prison. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving Trump affiliate. Two years ago today, an article published in The Atlantic described Bannon as a "lit bomb in the mouth of democracy." Like Trump and his dozens of other criminal associates, that is true. However, unlike virtually all of the others, Bannon would likely admit it and be proud of it. In November 2016, Bannon himself said, "Darkness is good." Before Trump came along, Bannon made himself the leading public voice for white nationalism and fascism. The former executive chairman of the far-right fake news site Breitbart, Bannon served as vice president on the board of Cambridge Analytica, which used illegal tactics to target voters in the 2016 election. He also founded the right-wing populist group "The Movement," which seeks to promote fascism across Europe.      When the Access Hollywood tape came out, when Trump's campaign seemed to be all but over, Bann...

     Nearly 1,500 arrests have been made in connection to the U.S. Capitol insurrection on January 6th, 2021. I'm beginning to worry, however. In an interview on MSNBC, one legal analyst noted that the load of cases is creating a situation similar to the conveyer belt scene in I Love Lucy , an overload that could soon result in catastrophe. 1,500 prosecutions for one major criminal action, ranging from petty misdemeanors all the way to dozens of cases of sedition and conspiracy, is already the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history. Still, these arrests represent just around half of the estimated criminals who need to face justice for January 6th: the hardest work is yet to come. At the current rate, the DOJ is on track to bust most of these people, but it may take until 2026 to finish up all of the arrests alone.       The Sedition Billboard case highlights this. In the span of a few seconds, dozens of people assaulted law enforcement with a g...

      June 2nd, 2024; Washington, D.C.-- Yesterday, Insurrection Detection filed a complaint with the D.C. Bar Office of Disciplinary Counsel against former Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, a licensed attorney who participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election on behalf of Donald Trump. Former Trump attorneys L. Lin Wood, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Jeffrey Clark have lost or are in the process of losing their law licenses, and this complaint seeks to hold Epshteyn accountable. Epshteyn, a Russian-born attorney and political consultant, has a history of arrests for groping women at bars, is listed as "unindicted co-conspirator number six" in Jack Smith's D.C. indictment, and has been charged with numerous felonies in the Arizona fake electors case. The complaint reads as follows:       "Boris Epshteyn is a D.C.-licensed attorney who has served as an advisor to the former 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump. In this ...