One of many first to be nabbed was Edward Lang, a bearded younger man arrested in a Newburgh house lower than two weeks after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot after he repeatedly boasted of his participation on social media.
Within the weeks and months to come back, a succession of different present and former Hudson Valley residents – a retired cop-turned-landscaper from Goshen, a Newburgh tattoo artist, a Metro-North railyard employee – could be collared for their very own alleged roles as FBI brokers sifted by way of footage and suggestions and commenced hauling in a whole bunch who stormed the Capitol or battled outdoors with police.
A yr after the assault, 13 males with Hudson Valley ties are at varied levels of prosecution for what they allegedly did that day. Two have pleaded responsible and have but to be sentenced. Three plan to face trial. And eight different defendants — three of them arrested lower than two months in the past — are nonetheless awaiting plea offers or trials.
Just one is watching his case unfold from behind bars.
Lang, now 26, is accused of serving to to guide a long, brutal assault on outnumbered officers guarding a Capitol entrance, a siege that lasted practically 2½ hours. Proven in proof images swinging an aluminum baseball bat at police, Lang faces extra costs than another native defendant and among the most severe, together with assaulting an officer with a harmful weapon and inflicting bodily damage.
The Sullivan County native lost his bid to be launched from the Washington, D.C., jail in September and is interesting that call. Final week, he spoke by phone from jail to the Newsmax TV channel, telling the hosts he acted in “self-defense” towards cops who have been “brutalizing protesters who have been unarmed — simply loving Americans who have been there to make use of their First Modification.”
“The police attacked us, and we needed to defend one another and defend our nation,” he stated.
He went on to complain for a number of minutes about how the jail has handled him and “about 40 different courageous patriots right here” — the jailed Jan. 6 defendants — and enchantment for public help, till the jail administration reduce off his name.
Prosecutors have stated Lang’s sustained violence put him “in a class all his personal” among the many riot suspects. In courtroom papers opposing his launch final month, they stated Lang “has not articulated how he was defending others from fast hazard by shoving a door into the pinnacle of a susceptible sergeant, or repeatedly kicking a detective after he fell to the bottom, or utilizing a baseball bat to beat officers standing sentry.”
Additionally awaiting trial is Roberto Minuta, a 2002 Newburgh Free Academy graduate and proprietor of a tattoo store on Broadway in Newburgh for eight years. He’s one among 19 members of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia charged in reference to the Capitol assault.
Minuta, who now lives in Texas however makes periodic journeys to Orange County to tattoo prospects, tried last year to get his case dismissed or proof quashed after discovering he had unwittingly talked about his arrest to an off-duty FBI agent who got here to his store for a tattoo. A choose final month declared Minuta’s claims groundless.
The 37-year-old tattoo artist now faces civil claims along with his prison costs, which embrace a felony conspiracy rely. Washington, D.C., officers filed a lawsuit final month towards every member of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — one other right-wing group — charged with collaborating within the riot, demanding compensation for the large policing prices Washington incurred.
Listed below are the 13 Hudson Valley males who face costs or sentencing in federal courtroom in Washington for the Jan. 6 riot and the place their circumstances stand.
Edward (Jake) Lang, 26, Newburgh
Alleged function: Prosecutors say Lang fought with police in an invading horde at a Capitol entrance, swinging a baseball bat and a riot defend he commandeered and pausing solely to scrub tear gasoline from his eyes. They’ve submitted as proof a mountain of video clips taken from surveillance and police physique cameras and Lang’s personal boastful posts on social media. He is charged with 13 counts, six of them felonies.
Case standing: Awaiting trial after rejecting a plea offer that would have meant at the very least six and half years in jail beneath federal sentencing pointers, in accordance with prosecutors. As a result of return to courtroom on Jan. 18.
Thomas Webster, 55, Goshen
Alleged function: Webster, a retired New York Metropolis police officer and former Marine who now owns a landscaping enterprise, is accused of tackling an officer outdoors the Capitol and making an attempt to yank off his gasoline masks and helmet, pulling so laborious he reduce off the officer’s respiratory for 10 seconds. Faces seven costs, together with felony counts of civil dysfunction and assaulting a police officer with a harmful weapon.
Case standing: Scheduled for trial on April 4 after rejecting a plea supply. His legal professional plans to argue in his protection that the cop Webster tackled had punched him and provoked the assault.
Roberto Minuta, 37, Prosper, Texas (Orange County native; nonetheless owns Newburgh tattoo store)
Alleged function: Minuta is one among 19 members of the Oath Keepers militia charged with collaborating within the Capitol riot. Prosecutors say the burly defendant berated police and pushed his well beyond officers into the Capitol, dressed for battle in a protecting vest and goggles and carrying bear spray. Although he allegedly spent only some minutes inside, the three costs towards him embrace a severe felony rely of conspiring along with his fellow Oath Keepers on the Capitol assault.
Case standing: The choose listening to the Oath Keepers’ case has set separate trial dates of April 19 and July 11 for 2 teams of defendants.
Robert Ballesteros, 28, Mahopac
Alleged function: Accused of illegally getting into the Capitol, which he admitted doing when he pleaded responsible to a misdemeanor cost in courtroom on Oct. 27. He was the primary Hudson Valley defendant to just accept a plea supply.
Case standing: Set to be sentenced on Jan. 27. He has agreed to be interviewed by regulation enforcement officers earlier than his sentencing and pay $500 in restitution, a small share of the cost of the roughly $1.5 million in injury the rioters allegedly induced.
Brian Gundersen, 27, State Faculty, Pennsylvania, (Armonk native)
Alleged function: The 2012 Byram Hills Excessive College graduate allegedly was noticed in photographs of the invading mob as a result of he was carrying his varsity football jacket from Byram Hills when he stormed the Capitol. Faces eight costs, together with a felony rely of assaulting a police officer.
Case standing: Subsequent courtroom date is Jan. 7.
William Vogel, 27, Pawling
Alleged function: Entered the Capitol illegally and faces 4 costs – two misdemeanors and two lower-level offenses.
Case standing: Due again in courtroom on March 4.
Christopher Moynihan, 31, Salt Level
Alleged function: Faces six costs, together with a felony rely of obstructing an official continuing, for allegedly making his method onto the Senate floor, the place he sifted by way of paperwork and photographed pages in hopes of discovering one thing incriminating. Prosecutors say movies additionally confirmed Moynihan on the Senate dais.
Case standing: Subsequent courtroom date is Feb. 17.
William Pepe, 32, Beacon
Alleged function: Alleged Proud Boys member was arrested six days after the Capitol riot and faces 9 costs, together with felony counts of conspiracy and civil dysfunction. Fired final March from his $74,000-a-year job a laborer within the Metro-North railyard in Brewster for allegedly taking a sick day to go Washington on Jan. 6. Additionally named within the go well with Washington, D.C. introduced towards Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
Case standing: Subsequent courtroom date is Jan. 11.
Anthony Vuksanaj, 52, Mahopac
Alleged function: Faces 4 costs for illegally entering the Capitol.
Case standing: Due in courtroom Jan. 14.
Robert Chapman, 51, Carmel
Alleged function: Arrested for Illegally getting into the Capitol after allegedly boasting that he had carried out so on the dating app Bumble.
Case standing: Pleaded responsible on Dec. 13 to a single misdemeanor rely of “parading, demonstrating or picketing” contained in the constructing, which carries a attainable jail sentence of as much as six months. As a result of be sentenced on April 4.
Gregory Purdy Jr., 24, Kent
Alleged function: Arrested along with his brother Matthew on Nov. 10 after turning themselves in to the FBI on the company’s New Windsor workplace. Faces seven costs, together with assaulting a police officer and civil dysfunction. Accused of pushing against a police line, illegally getting into the Capitol, and later goading a crowd to cost at police outdoors the constructing and once more pushing towards the officers.
Case standing: Due in courtroom Jan. 27.
Matthew Purdy, 22, Kent
Alleged function: Faces 4 costs for his alleged participation within the riot along with his brother and uncle, Robert Turner.
Case standing: Due in courtroom Jan. 27.
Robert Turner, 39, city of Poughkeepsie
Alleged function: Turner, the uncle of Gregory and Matthew Purdy, faces the identical seven costs as Gregory for allegedly charging police and illegally getting into the Capitol. Arrested in Los Angeles on Nov. 22, virtually two weeks after his nephews turned themselves in.
Case standing: Preliminary listening to set for Feb. 10.
