Two Jan 6 rioters are on the run after removing ankle monitors
Suspects accused of attacking officers during 2021 insurrection set to stand trial in August
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Two Capitol riot defendants are being sought by the FBI after going missing.
A Florida woman disappeared before she was set to stand trial on Monday after being charged in relation to her actions during the insurrection in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to violently stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Last week, a Washington federal judge issued bench warrants for the arrest of Joseph Hutchinson III and Olivia Pollock following the revelation that they had tampered with or removed the ankle monitors used to track them, according to the Associated Press.
A supervisory special agent at the FBI’s office in Lakeland, Florida, Joe Boland, said the FBI found one of the defendant’s ankle monitors after they had taken it off, but he didn’t say if it was Mr Hutchinson’s or Ms Pollock’s, the news agency reported.
Neither of the defendants had been found as of Monday afternoon.
Ms Pollock, from Lakeland, is the sister of fellow insurrection defendant Jonathan Pollock, who has been on the run for months. The FBI has dangled a reward of as much as $30,000 for information leading to Mr Pollock’s arrest and conviction.
He stands accused of assaulting several police officers during the siege on Congress more than two years ago.
Ms Pollock and Mr Hutchinson were arrested in 2021 and charged with assaulting officers, in addition to other crimes in an indictment that included five people.
Mr Hutchinson has chosen to represent himself at trial and the lawyer appointed to aid him chose not to comment on Monday, according to the AP.
The lawyer for Ms Pollock, Elita Amato, told the AP on Monday that the defendant “had been diligently assisting in her defense for her upcoming trial prior to her disappearance”.
The Independent has reached out to Ms Amato for comment.
Ms Pollock was outfitted in a ballistic plate carrier vest during the attack on the Capitol and she stands accused of elbowing an officer in the chest and attempting to take the officer’s baton.
Mr Hutchinson is suspected of having pushed a riot shield into the face and throat of an officer, as well as of having pulled an officer down some steps and hitting other members of law enforcement.
He pulled back a fence to let other rioters overwhelm police, and he struck an officer, grabbing the sleeve of another member of law enforcement before pushing the officer out of the way, according to the authorities.
Mr Hutchinson now lives in Georgia and was set to go to trial in August. On Monday, the judge rescheduled Ms Pollock’s trial for the same month.
When reached by The Independent, an attorney for Mr Hutchinson declined to comment.
Almost 1,000 people have been charged in connection to the riot, with sentences ranging from probation to ten years in prison, according to the AP.