Donald Trump

Tattoo Artist Linked to Trump Friend Roger Stone Arrested on Capitol Riot Charges

  • A man linked to GOP operative and longtime Trump friend Roger Stone has been arrested on criminal charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
  • New York resident Roberto Minuta, who reportedly provided security to Stone in Washington in the hours before the pro-Trump invasion of the Capitol, was arrested Saturday.
  • More than 200 people have been charged in connection with the riot by Trump supporters who disrupted the confirmation of the election win by President Joe Biden.

A man linked to Roger Stone — the Republican "dirty trickster" who received a pardon from his friend former President Donald Trump — has been arrested on criminal charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

New York resident Roberto Minuta, who reportedly provided security to Stone in Washington in the hours before the pro-Trump invasion of the Capitol, was arrested Saturday.

Minuta, a tattoo artist in Newburgh, New York, who has connections to the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group, was granted release on bond after an appearance in federal court in White Plains, New York.

He is charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building or grounds, and tampering with documents or proceedings.

A prosecutor said that Minuta admitted to FBI agents that he was at the Capitol during the riot, as well as to carrying pepper spray or bear spray that day. He also was seen wearing tactical goggles and gloves, and carrying a radio, court documents state.

Those documents also say that when he left the Capitol building, Minuta harassed law enforcement officers with other rioters, yelling, "All that's left is the Second Amendment," while holding up two fingers. Minuta has 10 licensed firearms, according to prosecutors.

Another man was arrested Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City by the FBI on Capitol riot-related charges after being deported by authorities in Kenya.

That man, Isaac Steve Sturgeon, is accused of picking up a metal barricade during the riot, pushing it into police guarding the complex and then crawling underneath it to get into the Capitol building, before he was blocked from entering.

Sturgeon, a 32-year-old lawn-care business owner from Dillon, Montana, is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court on Monday on charges of obstruction of justice, and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder. Prosecutors plan to ask a judge to order him detained without bond pending trial.

A criminal complaint says that that Sturgeon traveled to Kenya on Jan. 24 and afterward bought a ticket to fly back to the United States on April 5.  Kenyan authorities booted him from their country in advance of that date.

Source: F.B.I. | Department of Justice
On January 16, 2021, the FBI posted photograph #104-AFO ("assault on federal officers") to its website, seeking the public's assistance identifying the individuals involved in the Capitol riots. Sturgeon is in the top row, far right.

More than 200 people have been charged in connection with the riot, which began after a rally where Trump urged supporters to help him fight Congress' confirmation of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Five people, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died in connection with the riot.

Stone is a longtime friend of Trump and a controversial figure in New York and national politics who revels in a self-identified "dirty trickster" image.

He was convicted at a federal trial in Washington in November 2019 of lying under oath to Congress about his efforts to get advance information about the disclosure of emails hacked by Russians from then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign manager and the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.

Trump, who claimed that Stone was "a victim of the Russia hoax," in July 2020 commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence just days before Stone was set to enter prison.

Trump then pardoned Stone in late December, more than a month after losing to Biden in the general election.

On the same night, Trump also pardoned Stone's former business partner, Republican consultant Paul Manafort.

Manafort, who for some time had run Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, had been convicted of crimes related to his consulting work in Ukraine.

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