An Owensboro man has reportedly been arrested by federal authorities in connection with last month’s riot at the U.S. capitol, and he is facing multiple charges after allegedly spraying police with mace.
Peter Schwartz, 47, of Owensboro, was arrested in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, according to reports from news outlets in Pittsburgh.
Schwartz is facing federal charges of forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
According to court records, Schwartz appeared before a federal judge in Pittsburgh on Thursday and will remain in custody until a detention hearing on Wednesday.
According to an FBI affidavit, agents identified Schwartz in an “Action 8 News” video from Jan. 7 that showed a man — later identified as Schwartz — wearing a “distinctive yellow-and-blue checked shirt or jacket.”
The affidavit says that roughly 49 minutes into the video, “an arm clad in the same distinctive yellow-and-blue check material” is seen extending out from a crowd of rioters toward the group of officers and spraying an “orange substance from a black canister directly at the group of officers.”
The orange substance, believed to be mace, “lands near the face of an unidentified officer, causing him to turn his face away and step backwards. The officer appears to try to avoid inhaling the orange substance.”
According to the FBI, Schwartz is later seen in the video “carrying a wooden baton in the midst of the large crowd of rioters near the tunnel arch.”
In another video viewed by agents, a person believed to be Schwartz because of the same distinctive shirt is seen using a “large red canister to spray law enforcement with what appeared to be mace.”
According to the affidavit, agents received a tip on Jan. 11 from a man “who is personally acquainted” with Schwartz saying Schwartz was involved in the Capitol riots.
The individual told agents that Schwartz is a convicted felon who had been released from prison because of COVID-19 concerns, and that Schwartz was supposed to be in a rehabilitation center in Owensboro on Jan. 6.
Upon later investigation, FBI agents reviewed the public Facebook profile believed to belong to Schwartz.
Per the affidavit, FBI agents discovered a Jan. 7 post on that Facebook profile that reads: “All the violence from the left was terrorism. What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war. It would be wise to be ready!”
In the comment section of that post, Schwartz also wrote: “I’ll tell you this … I’m shocked reading the reports of what happened yesterday. Very different than what I saw up close and personal. (We’re still spitting up gas and mace today.).”
According to the affidavit, agents said the tipster told them on Jan. 24 that Schwartz “still owes him money” and he last saw Schwartz six months ago.
The individual also told agents he knew Schwartz was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 because Schwartz said “we were there” and posted on Facebook about driving to Washington with “more people than voted for Biden.”
FBI agents in Kentucky also interviewed an Owensboro police lieutenant who confirmed the person pictured in the FBI poster was Schwartz, according to the affidavit.
Schwartz has a lengthy arrest record in Owensboro. According to court records, in October 2019 he was sentenced to five years in prison for possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. In April 2020, he was released and sentenced to two years of supervised probation. An arrest warrant was put out in January 2021 for a probation violation.
