SEATTLE (AP) — A school board member from a small city in Washington state and his stepson have been charged with assaulting and interfering with police during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Richard Slaughter, 40, of Orting, Washington northwest of Mount Rainier, was arrested Wednesday along with his stepson, Caden Paul Gottfried, 20, the Justice Department said. They made initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Tacoma after turning themselves in and were released pending further court hearings.
It was not immediately clear if they had attorneys to represent them on the charges, which were filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. Slaughter, who was elected to the Orting School Board last fall, did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment. There are about 9,000 residents in Orting.
According to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent based in Tacoma, Slaughter and Gottfried first came to the agency's attention on Jan. 7, when they disrupted a flight from Washington, D.C., to Seattle by refusing to wear masks and protesting the results of the presidential election.
In an interview with agents, Slaughter acknowledged they were at the riot but denied seeing any crimes committed, saying, "conservatives don’t protest, they have jobs,” the affidavit said.
In April, a source identified Slaughter in footage of the riot and provided links from his wife's Facebook page showing photos of him there. In videos he was seen to keep a police riot shield away from officers, urged police to stand down and attacked officers with a long stick an entrance to the Capitol building, the affidavit said.
Gottfried also joined in the mob, using his body weight to push against a line of officers. Officers detained him and released him with a citation for illegal entry, the affidavit said.
Slaughter is charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police using a deadly or dangerous weapon; interfering with police during a civil disorder; and other felony and misdemeanor offenses. Gottfried is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers; interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder; and misdemeanor offenses.
In campaign materials last year, Slaughter described himself as a mortgage loan officer and said he and his wife run a teen center. He opposed requiring children to mask in school as a means to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 880 people have been charged with crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, an attack designed to block the transition of power from President Donald Trump following Joe Biden's election. About 400 have pleaded guilty. More than 270 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Sentences for the rioters have ranged from probation for low-level misdemeanor offenses to 10 years in prison for a man who used a metal flagpole to assault an officer.
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