By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Three Florida residents were charged on Wednesday in connection with the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, including one of whom prosecutors said sought to volunteer with the far-right Oath Keepers militia.
The Justice Department said that Leslie Gray, 56, Traci Isaacs, 52, and her husband, Luis Hallon, 67, of St. Cloud, Florida were all arrested on Wednesday.
Gray is facing felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding and other misdemeanors, while Isaacs is charged with destruction of documents and other lesser offenses, while Hallon is facing several misdemeanors.
All three are accused of illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Isaacs, who is a paramedic, is alleged to have submitted an application with the Oath Keepers to volunteer her medical services.
A number of the group’s members, including its leader Stewart Rhodes, are due to go to trial later this year on seditious conspiracy charges in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Prosecutors say Isaacs later deleted text messages exchanged on Jan. 6, but the FBI was able to recover some of them. In one message, she told someone: “Delete anything I sent you please. Feds are going after people hard.”
More than 840 been charged with taking part in the Capitol riot in which supporters of Republican then-President Donald Trump tried to prevent formal congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, attacking police and sending lawmakers scrambling for safety.
Trump has made false claims that he lost due to widespread voting fraud.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
