Photo: Jon Thomas Moss
A Yellville man charged with participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is scheduled for a hearing this month in federal district court for the District of Columbia.
Thirty-nine-year-old Jon Thomas Mott faces three charges, each carrying a maximum federal prison sentence of six months plus fines.
MOTT’S ARREST
In May last year, FBI agents arrested Mott in Yellville. He has entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him
According to information in Mott’s court file, government agents conducted pre-arrest physical surveillance of Mott Jan. 28 and Feb. 5 last year.
In the case against him, Mott is represented by a federal public defender.
He is accused of being among the estimated 2,000 people who stormed the Capitol Jan. 6 last year in a failed attempt to halt certification of the vote in the 2020 election.
The congressional process was delayed for a time and Vice President Mike Pence and members of the House and Senate were evacuated to safer quarters, as rioters occupied a number of areas in the Capitol, including offices and the meeting chambers for the Senate and House of Representatives.
COST ESTIMATED IN THE MILLIONS
The architect of the Capitol recently estimated up to $30 million would be necessary to make repairs and pay other costs associated with the attack.
Glass was broken out of doors and windows, offices were looted and furniture destroyed or stolen.
In doing a survey of the building, it was found historic paintings and statuary had been sprayed with fire extinguishers and yellow dye. Many of the empty extinguishers were shown being thrown at police by rioters.
MOUNTAIN OF EVIDENCE
Investigators have put together thousands of pieces of evidence from the day of the riot, including video from a variety of sources.
In several video segments, a bearded man identified as Mott, is seen in various parts of the rotunda. In one, he shows signs, including red swollen eyes, of having been sprayed with tear gas or similar chemical irritants. He is also pictured pouring water on the face of another rioter.
Mott is also allegedly shown pushing against the baton of a Metropolitan Police Department officer. Mott is heard to say, “don’t touch me,” and, “if you don’t touch me, I won’t touch you.” Mott then pushes against the officer’s baton.
In a statement of facts included in Mott’s federal court case, investigators write the Yellville man went to Washington with an individual from Oklahoma, apparently an acquaintance.
Mott is free on a personal recognizance bond.
SOME GUILTY PLEAS ENTERED
A number of people who participated in the attack on the Capitol have already pled guilty to the charges against them.
The longest prison sentence handed down to date is five years given to a Florida man who discharged the contents of a fire extinguisher toward a police line at one entrance to the Capitol, then threw the empty canister and a plank at officers.
When he was sentenced, the man told the court he had recently viewed a video of his actions and could not believe what he was seeing. He said he was “ashamed” of himself.
QANON SHAMAN
Jacob Anthony Chansley, who is from Arizona and was dressed in a fur hat complete with horns and red-white-and-blue face paint on Jan. 6, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Chansley, whose bizarre costume was the subject of many photographs taken during the attack, was dubbed the “QAnon shaman.”
While he was waiting for his case to move into the federal courts, Chansley was kept in a local lockup in Arizona.
His mother, Martha Chansley, filed a protest alleging her 33-year-old son, who was living in her basement at the time of his arrest, was not being fed correctly.
She said he could not eat anything but organic foods that the jail he was in did not provide. A judge ruled that Chansley should be provided with foods he could eat.
EXCUSES ABOUND
As rioters have gone before judges to be sentenced, they have offered a number of excuses for participating in the effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election by attacking one of the major symbols of American democracy.
Many are blaming Donald Trump. One man told the court, “They kept spitting out the false narrative about a stolen election and how it was our duty’ to stand up to tyranny. We just got suckered in.”
Another participant said that Trump, “is in Florida playing golf and I may be going to prison…that just isn’t fair.”
Many people with knowledge of those affiliated with ultra-right-wing “militia” type groups, such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, allege the members were involved in a conspiracy to carry out a coordinated attack on the Capitol.
Media reports have predicted that charges of sedition and treason would likely come from these organized groups.
A woman in Pennsylvania plunged her husband in hot water when she bragged to friends on Facebook that he had participated in the insurrection. She outlined some of his activities during the day.
An elderly man begged the court for mercy during his sentencing, explaining he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 because, “You get bored sitting at home all day.”
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