Three American insurrectionists charged in Federal Court for Assaulting and Impeding Local and Federal Officers during U.S. Capitol Breach

Assailants Attacked Law Enforcement with Bats and Batons In Effort To Halt Certification of Presidential Election

By Edward Era Barbacena

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – A D.C. man, a New Jersey man, and a Colorado man appeared today in United States district courts on charges stemming from their attacks on local and federal law enforcement officers, as well as other crimes, during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 that disrupted a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress in the process of affirming Presidential election results.

Emanuel Jackson

            Emanuel Jackson, 20, of the District of Columbia, was charged by criminal complaint with two counts of assault on a federal officer while armed with a deadly or dangerous weapon, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a) and (b); one count of unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds while armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a) and (b); one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1512(c)(2); and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104(e)(2).

Scott Kevin Fairlamb

            Scott Kevin Fairlamb, 43, of Stockholm, New Jersey, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of assault on a federal officer, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a); one count of certain acts during a civil disorder, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 231(a)(3); one count of unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds while armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a) and (b); and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104(e).

Jeffrey Sabol

            Jeffrey Sabol, 51, of Colorado, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with any law enforcement officer during the commission of a civil disorder which in any way obstructs or delays the conduct or performance of any federally protected function, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 231(a)(3).

            Jackson, at a detention hearing today in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, was ordered held without bond pending trial.  Fairlamb made his initial appearance in the District of New Jersey this afternoon; he was ordered released, but the order was stayed pending appeal by the government.   Sabol, after being taken into custody this morning, made his initial appearance thereafter in the Southern District of New York; he was ordered detained and transferred to the District of Columbia for further proceedings.  

            The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Jackson alleges that on January 6, Jackson joined a large group of rioters as they attempted to break through the barricaded doorway of the Senate Wing entrance on the west side of the U.S. Capitol building.  Video surveillance footage captures Jackson making a fist and repeatedly striking a U.S. Capitol Police officer while attempting to enter the building forcefully. The mob that Jackson joined pushed through and gained entrance to the Capitol building moments later.  Later that same day, Jackson was again outside the Capitol building at the West Terrace entrance. He joined a violent and aggressive crowd that continued to try to break through a large group of police officers.  Video footage shows Jackson wielding a metal baseball bat and repeatedly and forcefully striking a group of U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers in an attempt to break through.

            The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Fairlamb alleges that as uniformed members of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department arrived at the Capitol to assist the U.S. Capitol Police in restoring order on January 6, Fairlamb shoved and punched an officer on the West Front of the Capitol.   In addition to the officer’s account of the assault, the body-worn camera footage of the officer and video footage taken by a civilian witness depict Fairlamb – dressed in a brown camouflage jacket, black knit hat, blue jeans, and bright red shoes – as he assaults the officer.  According to the affidavit, additional video footage shows Fairlamb standing on scaffolding erected on Capitol grounds at the western front face of the Capitol building; picking up from the ground and placing under his arm a baton, just after the skirmish line on the Capitol West Terrace was breached and putting it under his arm; and leaving from inside the Capitol building, coughing, after chemical agents were deployed inside.  The affidavit also alleges that in a video post to his Facebook account, Fairlamb, carrying a collapsible baton like the one depicted in video in which he appears at the Capitol, remarks, “What Patriots do? We [expletive] disarm them and then we storm [expletive] the Capitol.”

            The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Sabol alleges that on January 6, Sabol was part of a group that grabbed a Metropolitan Police Department officer from the post where he guarded against access to the interior of the Capitol building and dragged him down the exterior stairs.  Sabol and the other individuals, the affidavit alleges, then forced the officer into a prone position on the stairs and proceeded to strike the officer, forcibly and repeatedly, in the head and body with various objects.  Sabol, according to the affidavit, is depicted in a photograph and numerous videos wearing a tan-colored jacket, black helmet, green backpack, and black gloves, and can be seen in a photograph holding an instrument believed to be a police officer’s baton across the police officer’s lower neck while his left hand is pressed to the backside of the officer.  When pulled over by police in New York State based on reports of erratic driving, a bloodied Sabol stated, “I am tired, I am done fighting[,]” “[m]y wounds are self-inflicted[,]” “[I was] fighting tyranny in the DC Capital [sic],” and “I am wanted by the FBI[.]”  Sabol later admitted that he was at the U.S. Capitol and that he was wearing a brown jacket, a black or grey helmet, a big green backpack, and black gloves.  A brown jacket like the one Sabol is wearing in the photograph and videos was recovered from his vehicle, according to the affidavit.

            These cases are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the DOJ’s National Security Division, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.  The cases are being investigated by the FBI’s Newark, New York, and Washington Field Offices, along with the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police.

            A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct for purposes of establishing probable cause, not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.