WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors filed a new superseding indictment Wednesday bringing additional felony charges against a man arrested with firearms and ammunition in his van near former President Barack Obama’s home last year.
Taylor Taranto, of Seattle, was arrested last June in D.C.’s Kalorama neighborhood after Secret Service officers noticed him acting strangely and making unusual comments on a live stream near the Obama family home. He was charged with two felony violations of D.C. Code for carrying a pistol without a license and unlawful possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, as well as four other misdemeanor counts relating to his alleged conduct during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
This week, a federal grand jury returned a new superseding indictment charging Taranto with five additional felony counts:
- Possession of an unregistered firearm (a Scorpion CS short-barreled rifle)
- Carrying a pistol without a license (a Scorpion CZ pistol)
- Unlawful possession of ammunition
- False information and hoaxes
- Obstruction of an official proceeding
The false information charge, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, stems from comments Taranto allegedly made on a livestream in the days prior to his arrest in which he threatened to blow up his van near the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Taranto’s attorney, assistant federal public defender Kathryn Guevara, has disputed the validity of those threats – saying in court it’s clear Taranto was joking about his old model van having “self-driving” capabilities.
The remaining charges carry potential sentences ranging from a mandatory minimum of one year in prison for unlawful possession of ammunition to a maximum of 20 years in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding. The latter charge is the only one of the new counts stemming from Taranto’s alleged actions on Jan. 6.
Taranto sought bond and leave to return to Washington state last year. That request was denied by a magistrate judge, who said federal prosecutors had convinced him there was a potential danger in releasing him.
"I'm scared that if something goes wrong or there's an accident there could be catastrophic consequences," Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui said.
Guevara has maintained through the case that prosecutors have cherry-picked statements to overstate the risk Taranto, a U.S. Navy veteran who deployed to Iraq during his service, poses to the public. She said he initially traveled to D.C. only in response to what he perceive to be an invitation from then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to view unreleased footage of the Capitol riot. She also pointed out he had been living in his van near the D.C. jail for months.
“Mr. Taranto has remained in plain sight,” Guevara said during a hearing in July. “I am confident if law enforcement was monitoring him with the degree of concern they now claim to have they could have found him.”
Taranto had also been a regular participant in the nightly vigil organized by supporters of Jan. 6 detainees, but was asked to stop participating shortly prior to his arrest last year for claiming Ashli Babbitt, the woman killed while attempting to climb through a window into the Speaker's Lobby on Jan. 6, was still alive.
In September, Taranto said he had no interest in a plea offer from the government and sought a trial date as early as January. As of Thursday, Taranto was scheduled for a jury trial before U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols on July 8.