JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — (Note: The video above is from a previous related story.)
A St. Augustine man among the dozens of people arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol last month had his first court appearance Thursday afternoon in Jacksonville.
John Anderson, age 61, is currently in custody in Jacksonville, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida said Thursday. Anderson was one of 10 people arrested and charged with unlawful entry Jan. 6, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
Anderson entered the courtroom in handcuffs, in the custody of U.S. Marshals. He faces up to eight and a half years in prison and $555,000 in fines if convicted on five different counts, including obstructing or impeding law enforcement and theft of government property during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Prosecutor Frank Talbot told the judge Anderson pushed up against officers in a large group outside an entryway at the U.S. Capitol as rioters, spurred on by the outgoing president, tried to halt the Electoral College count to finalize Joe Biden's win of the 2020 presidential election.
Talbot says "chaotic" bodycam footage captured Anderson with one of the officers' plexiglass shields. Anderson was asked, and refused, to give up the shield, so Talbot says he was sprayed by chemicals, cited and later released.
Rioters, spurred on by the outgoing president, were trying to halt the Electoral College Count to finalize Joe Biden's win of the 2020 Presidential Election.
First Coast News is still waiting on the arrest documents from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, which the prosecutor says includes a more detailed account of the event, as well as photographs of Anderson at the Capitol.
Talbot and Anderson's attorneys are still working to agree on what he should owe for a signature bond. However, after learning the details of the case, Judge Monte Richardson said he was "not comfortable for release," and scheduled a detention hearing for Friday afternoon at 2:30.
Anderson is one of several local defendants accused in the Capitol Riot. Last month, First Coast News' Troy Kless chased after a Middleburg man and woman as they sprinted away from the federal courthouse in Downtown Jacksonville to avoid questions from reporters after being charged in the insurrection.
Dana Joe Winn, 45, and his 40-year-old girlfriend Rachael Lynn Pert, turned themselves in to the FBI and had their first hearing Jan. 26. They refused to answer reporters' questions about their actions.
(Story continues below.)
The FBI is still searching for people who took part in the violence at the U.S. Capitol last month, according to a post on Twitter. The bureau has dozens of photographs of people it is seeking information about on its website.
(Story continues below.)
For more information including case-related court documents and future case proceedings, click here.