FBI arrest two Snohomish men accused of Jan. 6 attack on Capitol police
Aug 21, 2024, 11:30 AM | Updated: 11:32 am
Screen capture of body worn camera footage during the Jan. 6 attack allegedly shows Derek Noftsger, 47, of Washington, throwing a riot shield at a line of officers defending the Capitol. (Photo via the Criminal Complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia)
(Photo via the Criminal Complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia)
Federal agents with the FBI arrested a 47-year-old man in Snohomish on Thursday, accused of attacking police officers during the January 6 insurrection.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for D.C., Derek Noftsger flew from Seattle to Baltimore, arriving in Washington, D.C. on January 4, 2021.
While crowds of Trump supporters and others marched on the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors said Noftsger and another man from Washington, Thomas Hodo, were seen in camera footage carrying a tattered U.S. flag, pulling away police barricades, shouting at officers and advancing with the crowd.
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Photos, included in the complaint and taken from footage of body-worn cameras, allegedly showed Noftsger picking up one officer’s riot shield and throwing it over his head at a line of police. Minutes later, rioters overran police lines and Noftsger allegedly climbed scaffolding on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building. He and Hodo were seen in the criminal complaint posing for photos while on top of the scaffolding.
The FBI said Hodo was captured on open-source camera footage while on the Terrace, saying, “It could get a lot worse, we came in peace this time, it could get a lot worse, believe me we are well armed if we need to be.”
It’s not clear how federal agents tracked down Noftsger, how long it took to identify him or why investigators spent 43 months before arresting him. But court documents showed one of Hodo’s former coworkers helped investigators identify him.
Another Washington man charged in Jan. 6 attack
Hodo was arrested a few days later on Aug. 20 for several felony and misdemeanor charges, including disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. Court documents linked multiple social media posts to him, with one such post on January 5, 2021, claiming “Antifa” had threatened a senator’s family by showing up at their home.
“This is going to get real,” it read. Video from the same day captured Noftsger saying, “It’s my time, my duty, and if I have to lay down my life in D.C. in the two days, then that’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” the complaint read.
The next day during the riot, Hodo is allegedly seen shouting at police through a microphone, “Every treasonous traitor will be hung” and then telling officers, “You guys are a f****** disgrace.”
Hodo then allegedly tried to use a canister of pepper spray on nearby officers while Noftsger allegedly picked up a police officer’s riot shield from the ground, eventually throwing it into a crowd of officers.
Noftsger made his first court appearance at the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle hours after his arrest Thursday.
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FBI agents in Seattle and across Washington continue to investigate the case.
To date, federal prosecutors have charged nearly 1,500 people for crimes at the Capitol on January 6, 2020. More than a third of the charges are felonies for allegedly assaulting or impeding police.
Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.
