SNOHOMISH — FBI agents arrested a Snohomish man Thursday on charges accusing him of breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and throwing a police riot shield at officers.
In U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., federal prosecutors charged Derek Noftsger, 47, with obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, both felony offenses. Noftsger is also charged with several misdemeanors, including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and physical violence at the Capitol.
After federal authorities arrested him, Noftsger made his first appearance in federal court in Seattle.
Around 2:26 p.m. on Jan. 6, Noftsger can reportedly be seen on open-source video near a line of police officers on the West Plaza of the Capitol grounds. Multiple rioters pushed against the police line nearby.
Prosecutors allege Noftsger picked an officer’s riot shield off the ground. When officers pushed back a fellow member of the mob, he lifted the shield above his head and threw it at police, the charges say.
The crowd overran the police line at the West Plaza, so Noftsger made his way onto the scaffolding and lower west terrace of the Capitol building, according to prosecutors.
Noftsger is the latest Snohomish County man charged with rioting at the Capitol to halt the presidential election certification process in support of then-President Donald Trump.
Last July, Daniel Scott, a Proud Boy who used to live in Arlington nicknamed “Milkshake,” was sentenced to five years in prison for leading the siege and assaulting an officer.
In May, Tucker Weston, of Lynnwood, got two years in prison. His roommate, Jesse Watson, got three years probation.
And last December, prosecutors charged Matthew Stickney, of Mountlake Terrace, with participating in the riot. His case remained pending this week in federal court in Washington D.C.
Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.
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