WASHINGTON — A defendant arrested Jan. 6 near former President Barack Obama’s Washington, D.C. home over the summer after posting a screenshot of former President Donald Trump’s address is facing five new charges.
A federal grand jury returned the charge indictment against Taylor TarantoHe was first identified by online sleuths in 2021, but wasn’t arrested until June 2023, when he was spotted near Obama’s home, NBC News reported.
Three of the new charges relate to guns and ammunition allegedly found in Taranto’s van when he was arrested. Taranto also faces a felony charge of obstructing official proceedings for his conduct on Jan. 6. He also faces charges of false information and forgery at the National Institute of Standards that he would detonate an explosive device. Technology before his final arrest. Once identified by the online “mischief hunters” but before being arrested, Taranto and another man, David Walls-Kaufman, were sued by the late Officer’s widow. Geoffrey Smith. Smith was attacked on January 6 and died by suicide a few days after the Capitol attack. He was sentenced to death happened on duty.
A civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Smith’s widow alleges that Taranto and Walls-Kaufman contributed to Smith’s death. Taranto was seen in multiple videos carrying an armed baton near Smith during the trial. fight between officers and rioters, Smith appears to be assaulted. Smith’s own body-worn camera personnelReleased as a result of the lawsuit, it also shows a separate incident in which Smith was hit by a flying metal object, an incident that happened hours after Walls-Kaufman and Taranto were inside the Capitol. Taranto came to Walls-Kaufman judgment On January 6, 2023, he was arrested outside the Obama residence in Washington, D.C., the same month as the charges. Walls-Kaufman, who was not charged with the assault but confessed to “quarreledHe and the officers were sentenced to 60 days in federal prison and released in September, according to Bureau of Prisons records. Civil suits against both men are still pending.
It was Taranto ordered is being held pending trial and a trial date is currently set for July. Prior to Taranto’s arrest, he was seen on live broadcasts on Jan. 6 hanging out near the Washington prison where a small number of defendants are being tried and where supporters of the defendants gather nightly. The government he said Taranto traveled to Washington in response to then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s “offer to make a January 6 video.”
On June 29, 2023, Trump posted a screenshot on his Truth Social account containing the address of Obama’s home in Washington, D.C. According to prosecutors, Taranto reposted Trump’s post on his Truth Social account and then posted that he was out of residence that day.
“We have surrounded these losers!” According to prosecutors, Taranto wrote on Telegram: “See you in hell, Podesta and Obama.”
Taranto was eventually caught near Rock Creek Parkway after staying in the woods near Obama’s home during the live broadcast.
Taranto, a former military man, “worked successfully with a mental health therapist and psychiatrist for many years” through the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the court order. But Taranto was ordered to go to trial by Judge Carl Nichols he said he was “unconvinced” that the mental health treatment plans proposed by Taranto’s attorney would “provide adequate coverage in light of Taranto’s recent heightened behavior.”
More than 1,250 defendants have been indicted in connection with the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and prosecutors have secured more than 900 convictions. Hundreds of additional rioters were identified but not arrested. including a man seen in newly emerging footage firing a gun into the air during the attack.