South Carolina man pleads guilty after allegedly pepper-spraying officers during Jan. 6 riot
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A South Carolina man connected with the January 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting law enforcement officers, according to the office of Matthew Graves, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thomas Andrew Casselman, 30, of Walhalla, South Carolina, was one of hundreds of people who disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress intended to ascertain and count the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election.
Court documents noted Casselman was positioned directly in front of a police line on the West Plaza of the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. At around 2:25 p.m., as the police line began to fall, Casselman used a canister of pepper-spray in close range the line, hitting several Metropolitan Police Department Officers.
Graves’s office also said Casselman’s internet search history following the Jan. 6 riot was released in court documents. Casselman’s inquiries include:
- “The statute of limitations for assault on a police officer”
- “The statute of limitations for assault on a federal officer”
- “Assaulting a federal officer punishment”
- “What is the definition of a domestic terrorist”
- “How long does Verizon keep text messages”
Casselman was arrested by the FBI on March 28, 2023, in Walhalla. He pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a felony offense of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.
He will be sentenced on July 18 by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said more than 1,358 people have been charged in almost all 50 states for crimes related to the events of January 6. Over two dozen of them are South Carolinians.
The FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case and investigating further.
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