WASHINGTON — A federal judge found two Floridians guilty on multiple counts Wednesday for joining in a pro-Trump mob’s efforts to overwhelm police on the west side of the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Michael Steven Perkins, of Plant City, and Joshua Christopher Doolin, of Lakeland, were convicted Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols following a bench trial last week. Doolin, 25, a former EMT in Polk County, Florida, was found guilty on one felony count of civil disorder and three misdemeanor counts, including one for stealing a police riot shield. He was acquitted of a second count of theft alleging he’d stolen a police crowd-control spray gun. Perkins, 39, was convicted on multiple felony counts, including one for assaulting police with a flagpole.
Perkins and Doolin were among five defendants named in an indictment in July 2021 alleging the group used fists, metal flagpoles and stolen riot shields to batter officers trying to hold a line on the west side of the U.S. Capitol. One defendant, Jonathon Pollock, has never been located by police. Two other defendants, Olivia Pollock and Michael Hutchinson, went missing shortly before trial was to begin and have not been located.
Although Doolin was not charged in a superseding indictment with assaulting police, Perkins was accused of joining in the attack after watching other co-defendants charge the line of officers.
“Rather than retreating from this violent conduct, Perkins joined in less than ten minutes later,” prosecutors wrote in charging documents. “Then, as officers descended into the crowd of rioters to assist another officer, Perkins grabbed a dangerous weapon – a flagpole – and thrust it into the chest of an officer. He then raised the flagpole over his head and brought it down toward another officer, appearing to strike that officer in the back of the head.”
Prosecutors said Doolin eventually made his way to the exterior of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel – the site of some of the most violent attacks on police on Jan. 6 – where he could be seen holding a police riot shield and “waving or gesturing to other rioters to come closer to the archway.”
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for July 13. Nichols allowed both men to remain on personal recognizance bond while they await sentencing. The FBI continues to offer a $30,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Jonathon Pollock.
We're tracking all of the arrests, charges and investigations into the January 6 assault on the Capitol. Sign up for our Capitol Breach Newsletter here so that you never miss an update.