WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Thursday it had added a Virginia man to the growing number of defendants accused of a prolonged assault on police inside the Capitol tunnels on January 6.
Geoffrey William Sills, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, was arrested Friday on 10 charges in connection with the Capitol riot, among them assaulting federal officers using a dangerous weapon, robbery, obstruction of an official proceeding and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.
In a new superseding indictment filed last week, Sills was charged with five co-defendants for allegedly joining the mob that assaulted Capitol and D.C. police trying to hold a line in the Capitol tunnels. Video of that assault was released earlier this week allegedly showing one of Sills’ co-defendants, Patrick Edward McCaughey III, crushing D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a doorframe.
Sills is accused of using a baton and a “pole-like” object to repeatedly attack police, who were trying to prevent rioters from entering the U.S. Capitol building.
“While inside, [Sills] repeatedly struck multiple police officers with an extended baton while using a strobe light, apparently to try to disorient the officers,” the Justice Department said in a written statement Thursday.
Sills was included in an FBI BOLO as unidentified Capitol riot suspect #153.
If convicted, Sills could face up to 20 years in prison on the obstruction charge. He was scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon for a pretrial detention hearing.
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