WASHINGTON — A Capitol rioter awaiting sentencing on multiple felony charges will not be allowed to travel to the United Arab Emirates, a federal judge ruled Monday.
Tristan Chandler Stevens, of Florida, filed a motion last week requesting permission to travel to Abu Dhabi to spend Dec. 1 through Dec. 31 with a friend in the Persian Gulf country. The motion noted Stevens has been fully compliant with the conditions of his release since February 2021 and the court previously granted his motion to remove GPS monitoring.
Stevens, who was a 25-year-old computer engineering student at the University of Western Florida on Jan. 6, was convicted in September of one felony count of civil disorder and four felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding police during a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden. During the trial, prosecutors showed video of Stevens joining in the prolonged assaulted on police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on Jan. 6 and using a riot shield to try to force the officers’ line backward. U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, one of a number of officers who testified during the trial, said Stevens used a stolen riot shield to corner him against a doorframe.
Prosecutors also played another video of Stevens on the grounds of the Capitol prior to reaching the tunnel in which he appeared to attempt to provoke and threaten police.
“Do you know what happens to traitors?” Stevens can be heard in a DC Police officer’s bodyworn camera footage. “They get tied to a post and shot. Are you ready for that?”
On Monday, McFadden denied Stevens’ request to travel in a brief order without any further explanation. McFadden previously allowed another defendant, Texas florist Jenny Cudd, to travel out of the country for a weekend retreat in Riviera Maya, Mexico, while she was awaiting trial. Cudd, who pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one Class “A” misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, was never charged with a crime of violence and was, at the time her request was filed with the court, facing only two misdemeanor charges.
Stevens is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 13 and potentially faces years in prison. Other rioters convicted of assaulting officers have received sentences ranging from four years, in the case of Patriot Boys of North Texas founder Lucas Denney, to 10 years in prison, in the case of former NYPD officer Thomas Webster.
Two of Stevens’ co-defendants who were also convicted during the bench trial, Patrick McCaughey III and David Mehaffie, are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, respectively. Three other defendants – Geoffrey Sills, Robert Morss and David Lee Judd – were convicted via brief stipulated bench trials in August. Three remaining defendants in the case – Christopher Quaglin, Federico Klein and Steven Cappuccio – were scheduled to begin their own bench trial before McFadden on April 10, 2023.
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