Judge in Las Vegas detains 2 suspects in US Capitol riot

Ronald “Ronnie” Sandlin, 31, of Memphis, Tennessee, was arrested last week in Las Vegas, where prosecutors said he was hiding out with Nathaniel DeGrave, 31.

The self-proclaimed supporters of former President Donald Trump face charges that stem from the Jan. 6 attack. Prosecutors said they recorded and posted videos of themselves together at the Capitol riot.

On Monday, in a hearing made available to news media only by telephone, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts detained the two men on felony counts of obstructing law enforcement incident to civil disorder and misdemeanor charges related to “unlawful and disorderly conduct” in Washington, D.C., on the day a four-hour riot left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer.

Before finding that the pair would be sent to Washington for trial, Albregts concluded that Sandlin and DeGrave had “an utter disregard and utter lack of respect for the nation’s most sacred institutions.”

Sandlin could be heard sobbing.

“Your honor, have mercy on me,” Sandlin cried. “Please.”

In a separate hearing, DeGrave seemed less emotional, and only spoke briefly.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Cristen Thayer, his lawyer, argued that he was not a threat to obstruct justice or a risk to flee.

“There’s not a risk or a pattern of this behavior,” she said. “He would not have been a leader in this. He would have been a follower. At worst he got swept up in this.”

The judge disagreed.

‘Assaultive behavior’

In a 16-page detention brief filed Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson called Sandlin a “serious risk of flight” and “a serious risk to obstruct justice.”

Prosecutors have tied Sandlin to two separate assaults on law enforcement officers and called his conduct “extremely troubling.”

Sandlin tried to rip an officer’s helmet off as the officer tried to steer the mob away from a Capitol entrance, Dickinson argued in his brief, and “engaged in a shoving match with an officer attempting to lock and secure a set of doors inside the Capitol.”

“The defendant’s assaultive behavior contributed to the mob’s ability to successfully breach and wander the U.S. Capitol, putting additional law enforcement officers and members and staff of Congress at grave risk,” the prosecutor wrote.

Defense attorney Russell Marsh, who was appointed to represent Sandlin, argued before Albregts on Monday that Sandlin had “no nefarious reason for traveling to Nevada,” where he had previously lived for several years.

Sandlin said he told his parents that before his arrest he had planned to turn himself in to the FBI, and he had them ship him a suit overnight.

“I did not assume I was going to be tackled to the ground by five federal agents,” he told the judge. “If I had known that, I would have turned myself in immediately.”

Marsh asked the judge to allow Sandlin to live with his parents, his grandmother and dogs on a farm in rural Tennessee while awaiting trial.

In a separate detention memo, Dickinson said of DeGrave that “there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant poses a serious risk to obstruct justice.”

DeGrave did not have a significant criminal history, according to the prosecutor.

“However, the defendant’s actions, as demonstrated by his apparent willingness to engage in assaultive behavior as part of a violent mob and his preparation and planning for violence leading up to January 6 should give this Court great concern about the danger he would pose to the community if released,” Dickinson wrote.

In the scuffle with Capitol police, the prosecutor wrote, DeGrave also became aggressive.

He was spotted on video “putting up his fists as if to begin boxing one of the retreating USCP officers,” Dickinson wrote. “As the USCP officer steps away, DeGrave is observed banging his chest. DeGrave then removes his mask/face shield, revealing his face and a red-white-and-blue bandanna around his neck.”

Before the attack, authorities allege, Sandlin frequently repeated a “battle cry” of “freedom is paid for with blood.”

He and DeGrave exchanged messages on Facebook in the week leading up to the attack, according to the detention memo.

“Yo sorry bro I’m going back and fourth about going some people I respect are saying it may get dangerous,” Sandlin wrote. “Are you down for danger bro?”

DeGrave responded: “Im bringing bullet proof clothing” and “yes.”

Authorities have said more arrests are possible.

Sandlin was arrested at the Las Vegas apartment complex where DeGrave lives.

The FBI used video surveillance, social media posts, a driver’s license photo and tips from the public to conclude that Sandlin, DeGrave and another man, Josiah Colt of Boise, Idaho, were a trio pictured on video surveillance in the Capitol during the insurrection. Sandlin and DeGrave were convinced the election was being stolen, according to the document.

Prosecutors said DeGrave, Sandlin and Colt were among those who plotted and encouraged the violent insurrection, leaving digital footprints throughout social media before they stormed the U.S. Capitol, and before Sandlin and DeGrave fled to Las Vegas.

Along the way, they also accidentally sprayed themselves with bear mace.

Authorities obtained an undated, eight-second video clip that showed DeGrave’s mace going off in his pocket and clouding a van in which the trio were riding.

“Both Sandlin and Colt are seen coughing in the video,” according to the detention memo.

DeGrave also was quoted as saying on social media: “It’s time the American people rise and stand up for this country. We’re tired of the corruption.”

The Capitol siege unfolded as lawmakers inside were working to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

‘A spoke in the wheel’

DeGrave and Sandlin were each “a spoke in the wheel that caused the historic events,” Dickinson wrote.

According to the FBI, Sandlin posted an invitation to the protests on social media on Dec. 31 and wrote, “I’m organizing a caravan of patriots who are going to Washington D.C. to stand behind our president Donald J. Trump.”

According to the FBI, on one of the videos from the Capitol grounds, a man resembling DeGrave says: “We are out here protecting the country. If (expletive) goes down, if (Vice President Mike) Pence does what we think he is going to do, then we are here to defend this city, defend any city in this country. Let antifa try us. We are here. We are ready. I say bring it. We are not silent anymore.”

Antifa is shorthand for “anti-fascists,” an umbrella description for the far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations and other events.

An analysis of video surveillance from the Capitol Senate Gallery later showed Sandlin and a person believed to be DeGrave in a shoving match with officers, according to the FBI.

According to the FBI, an article and video published in the New York Post depicted Sandlin smoking what appeared to be marijuana in the Capitol Rotunda. A subpoena allowed the FBI to trace a Facebook account repeatedly cited in the warrant to Sandlin’s Memphis address.

Colt is already facing federal charges of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He’s been identified in multiple media reports as the man photographed clinging to a balcony in the Senate during the insurrection. He also was pictured sitting in Pence’s chair in the chamber.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.