Two residents of Volusia County have been arrested on federal criminal charges for their alleged roles in the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021. 43-year-old Jarod Hawks, a Port Orange resident, and 40-year-old John Padgett, an Edgewater resident, are both accused of violent crimes against federal officials during the chaotic event.
Both men are charged with assaulting law enforcement officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a disruptive building, physical violence in a restricted building, obstructing passage at the Capitol, and physical violence at the Capitol. They were arrested on Monday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and made their initial court appearance in the Middle District of Florida according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Evidence of Assaulting Police Officers
Hawks (circled in yellow) and Padgett (circled in green) allegedly helping push a Trump 2020 sign into Capitol Police officers. ⓒ U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia
A dossier included in the Justice Department’s announcement about Hawks and Padgett outlines evidence which is being used to prosecute them for their roles in the attack. The FBI received tips from private citizens about the men’s involvement, interviewed people who are close to them, and later came into possession of CCTV images which allegedly show them men at the Capitol on January 6th. One series of photos depicts them reportedly pushing a large ‘Trump 2020’ sign into a line of Capitol Police officers as part of an effort to breach a police line.
If the FBI’s identifications are correct, the two men are shown in several images to have been walking together to the site of the riots, where they arrived at the first barricade to have been breached. They are pointed out as being among those who disassembled steel barricades, before later allegedly moving to another barricade as it too was breached. They then are accused of clearing barricades from an abandoned police post to help rioters get into the Capitol. Later, the pair are accused of assaulting multiple police officers attempting to hold them back, including one moment in which they allegedly used some large object as a battering ram.
Finding and Prosecuting Hawks and Padgett
Padgett (circled in green) allegedly kicking a barricade into Capitol Police officers during the riot while Hawks (circled in yellow) watches on. ⓒ U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia
Hawks and Padgett are said to have left the area once law enforcement regained control of the Capitol, and were not taken into custody for their alleged actions until almost four years after the fact. In the days following the riot, the pair were identified by private citizens to the FBI as ‘GrogBountyHunter’ (Hawks) and ‘ShadesofCrime’ (Padgett). These were their names to investigators until they were matched to their real-life social media and government IDs.
The two men are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Investigation has been ongoing by the FBI’s Jacksonville and Washington field offices, with cooperation from the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department. Hawks and Padgett join over 1,500 people who’ve been criminally charged for their alleged actions on January 6th, one of them being ex-President, and President-elect, Donald Trump.
Background
Jarod Hawks (left) and John Padgett (right) as identified by the FBI in their social media pictures. ⓒ U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia
John Padgett has a criminal history in Volusia County that includes charges of assault on a law enforcement officer, battery on an emergency medical care provider, battery on a person over 65 years old, domestic battery, and criminal mischief over $1,000. Jarod Hawks has a series of bookings in Volusia as well, with charges including strangulation, false imprisonment, sexual battery, burglary with battery, felony battery, fleeing or eluding lights and sirens, violation of pretrial release, and driving without a valid license.
The January 6th riots, often referred to as an insurrection, was an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Many treated the event as a simple political protest. Some went a step further, breaching the Capitol and placing lawmakers and Capitol law enforcement in danger. Four deaths occurred on January 6th: one rioter was shot to death, one died of a drug overdose, and two died from natural causes. In the days and months that followed, one police officer succumbed to natural causes and four took their own lives with all being linked to the event.
