TAMPA, Fla. — Editor's Note: The video above is from a previous story.
A $15,000 reward is being offered for a 23-year-old Lakeland man accused of taking part in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
In a press release, the FBI's Tampa Field Office says the reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Jonathan Daniel Pollock.
The FBI says Pollock faces federal charges connected to the attack that took place on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pollock is accused of assaulting multiple police officers with a deadly weapon. A federal warrant for his arrest was issued on June 25, 2021.
"We've been trying to locate Mr. Pollock since last summer," FBI Tampa Acting Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani said in a statement. "The allegations against him aren't going away and must be dealt with. The FBI is patient but determined to bring justice to those responsible for the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6."
Law Professor Jeffrey Swartz, who teaches at WMU-Cooley Law School's Tampa Bay campus, said Pollock is only hurting himself by continuing to avoid arrest.
"If I were his attorney, the first thing I would say is you need to surrender yourself. Let’s meet somewhere I’ll take you in and I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you," said Swartz, who also worked as both a prosecutor and defense attorney for decades.
Avoiding arrest could lead to the additional charge of "unlawful flight to avoid prosecution" Swartz explained.
"If they can prove that he knew he was indicted and he has purposely been secreting himself, then under those circumstances it is 'unlawful flight to avoid prosecution,'" he said.
Beyond the potential of an additional charge, Swartz said dealing with law enforcement would be preferable to dealing with bounty hunters.
"At this point, even as he doesn’t want to go to jail... he’s better off not being hunted down because if bounty-hunters start hunting him down, $15,000 is pretty good bounty and they are not bound by the rules that police use in getting their hands on you."
Swartz says the FBI reward for information on Pollock could indicate the FBI has additional charges or questions for Pollock.
"It does have the implications that apparently there’s something else they want to talk to him about; something else they may want to charge him with; something else I think he knows," Swartz speculated. "I think he’s a key witness in something else. They want information from him; they think he knows something."
The FBI has been trying to locate Pollock since last summer.
Matt Aubin a local private investigator with Southern Recon Agency who specializes in missing persons cases. Aubin said slipping off the grid, as Pollock has, requires advanced planning.
"Basically you're completely cut off. You're using a burner phone if you're using anything, you're in a cash-only world. You're avoiding all friends, family and known associates."
And Aubin said it only takes a single slip-up for people to be caught.
"Commonly, the mistakes are emotional based or survival based."
The FBI says agents believe Pollock has friends and family throughout central and north Florida, as well as in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Agents say he is a welder and ironworker by trade and may be working this or similar construction jobs.
The FBI says Pollock is 5-feet, 10-inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes.
If you have any information about Pollock's whereabouts you're asked to contact the nearest FBI field office, U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
You can call the FBI Tampa Field Office 24/7 at 813-253-1000. You can also submit tips online here. Information you provide to the FBI can remain anonymous.
For more information, click here.
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