Two January 6 defendants wanted by FBI after they disappeared
The FBI is looking for a Florida woman who was due to stand trial Monday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, as well as another riot defendant who is also missing, officials said.
A federal judge in Washington issued arrest warrants for Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III last week after the court was told they tampered with or removed ankle monitors that track their location, Joe Boland said, a supervisory special agent with the FBI Office in Lakeland, Florida.
Boland said the FBI recovered one of the defendants’ ankle monitors after removing it, but declined to say whether it was Pollock or Hutchinson. As of Monday afternoon, the FBI had not located any of them, he said.
Olivia Pollock, of Lakeland, is the sister of another Jan. 6 defendant, Jonathan Pollock, who has been on the loose for months. The FBI offered a reward of up to $30,000 in exchange for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her brother, who is accused of assaulting several police officers during the riot.
Olivia Pollock and Hutchinson were originally arrested in 2021 and charged in a five-person indictment with assaulting law enforcement and other crimes. Hutchinson is representing himself at trial and an attorney appointed to assist him as backup counsel declined to comment Monday.
Olivia Pollock’s attorney, Elita Amato, said Monday that her client “diligently assisted in her defense for her upcoming trial prior to her disappearance.”
Authorities encouraged anyone with information about their whereabouts to contact the FBI.
Olivia Pollock, who wore a ballistic plate carrier vest during the riot, is accused of elbowing an officer in the chest and attempting to pull the baton from the officer during the melee. Jonathan Pollock is accused of planting a riot shield in an officer’s face and throat, taking an officer down and punching others.
Authorities say Hutchinson pulled down a fence that allowed other rioters to flood police trying to defend the Capitol, punched one officer and grabbed the sleeve of another before throwing the officer out of his path.
Hutchinson, who now lives in Georgia, was due to stand trial in August. The judge on Monday postponed Olivia Pollock’s trial to August as well.
Also on Monday, a Colorado man pleaded guilty to using chemical spray to attack police officers who were trying to hold back a crowd.
Robert Gieswein, of Woodland Park, Colorado, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. Estimated sentencing guidelines for Gieswein recommend a prison term ranging from three years and five months to four years and three months, depending on his plea agreement.
Gieswein wore a helmet, body armor and goggles and carried a baseball bat when he stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He marched to the building from the Washington Monument with members of the extremist group far-right Proud Boys.
Gieswein repeatedly sprayed “irritant spray” at officers, pushed against a line of police and was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol, according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea to assault.
Federal authorities said Gieswein appeared to be an adherent of the Three Percenters militia movement and led a private paramilitary training group called the Woodland Wild Dogs.
Nearly 1,000 people have been charged in the riot so far. Sentences range from probation for people who pleaded guilty to misdemeanors to 10 years in prison for a retired New York Police Department officer who used a metal pole to assault an officer.