Free Republic

The Department of Justice charged its first Capitol rioter suspected of attacking the media on Jan. 6. Shane Jason Woods is being accused of attacking a Capitol police officer and a member of the media, a criminal complaint released on Thursday showed. He is facing eight federal charges, including assault in special maritime and territorial jurisdiction, assault on a law enforcement officer and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. Woods allegedly ran up to a Capitol police officer who was just sprayed with bear repellant and tripped and pushed the officer to the ground, according to...

WASHINGTON -- The man photographed sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk during Wednesday's riots in the US Capitol has been arrested and charged with three federal counts, including theft of public property, federal officials said Friday. Federal officials said Richard Barnett of Arkansas was taken into custody Friday morning in Little Rock. Barnett was charged with knowingly entering and remaining in restricted building grounds without authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds as well as the theft of public property, officials said. A resident of Alabama was also charged in connection with the pipe bomb found on...

WASHINGTON (WV News) — West Virginia Delegate Derrick Evans, R-Wayne, has been charged with entering a restricting area and entering the U.S. Capitol, federal officials in the District of Columbia said Friday. "We have just, I just received word that we have a signed complaint ... against a delegate who serves in the West Virginia Legislature," said Ken Cole, first assistant for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON — At least two people are facing federal charges after Wednesday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to federal court documents filed. They are believed to be two of the first charges. The documents give insight into some of what happened at the U.S. Capitol Complex on Wednesday. One of the people charged was Mark Leffingwell. According to court filings, a U.S. Capitol Police officer said the man “punched me repeatedly with a closed fist.” He’s facing three federal charges including an assault on a federal law enforcement officer. Leffingwell was among a group of people inside the Capitol...

After Epstein’s mysterious death, hope for justice for his victims is fading away. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra has refused to invalidate a secret agreement that allowed deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein to avoid federal charges, issuing a ruling which indicated that his death effectively rendered the case moot. Epstein’s alleged victims filed a lawsuit with hopes to expose the federal government’s inappropriate behavior in how they handled the Epstein prosecution. Marra’s ruling has effectively thrown out that case, and the federal judge elaborated on his decision a 15-page order released on Monday. “As a result of Mr. Epstein’s death,...

Following the overturned state firearm conviction of illegal immigrant Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, U.S. Attorney David Anderson said Wednesday the federal government plans to proceed with federal gun charges in the case of Kate Steinle, during an interview on "Fox & Friends." Zarate, who was previously deported five times, was charged by the state of California with the murder of Steinle in 2015 and was acquitted on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and assault with a semi-automatic weapon. He was, however, convicted of felony possession of a firearm, and has maintained the stolen gun he used had discharged...

SAN DIEGO – Three former pension trustees, an ex-pension administrator and the system's attorney pleaded innocent Wednesday to federal charges that they concealed details on the pension fund from other trustees. Indictments were returned Jan. 6 against Ronald Saathoff, president of the San Diego City Firefighters union; Cathy Lexin, the city's former director of human resources; Terri Webster, the city's former acting auditor; former pension administrator Lawrence Grissom; and current pension general counsel Loraine Chapin. Each faces one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud and 15 counts of mail fraud. Some of...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. attorney's office on Thursday indicted Julie Lee, a top political fundraiser for former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, for diverting $125,000 from a taxpayer-funded grant to Shelley's campaign coffers. An FBI investigation led a federal grand jury to issue the seven-count indictment that charges Lee with four counts of mail fraud and three counts of attempted witness tampering, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said. Lee's attorney, Steven Gruel, could not immediately be reached for comment, but last month she pleaded not guilty to related criminal charges in San Francisco. The federal indictment alleges that Lee...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO(AP) - A woman who allegedly ran through a San Francisco International Airport security gate has been charged in federal court with entering an airport area in violation of security requirements.</p> <p>Cindy Hsiung Wei-Hsuan, 23, a Tawainese citizen visiting the United States on a student visa, was charged in a criminal complaint filed Friday by federal prosecutors in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Jacobs said Tuesday.</p>