Arrest warrants were issued for Olivia Michele Pollock and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson last week after they broke the terms of their release and disappeared.
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this articleGive this articleGive this article
A judge issued arrest warrants for two defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after they broke the terms of their release.
The authorities are searching for a Florida woman who slipped away from federal monitoring just days before she was set to go on trial in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The woman, Olivia Michele Pollock, was to be tried on Monday in Federal District Court in Washington on charges of assaulting police officers and interfering with law enforcement. But on Friday, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant for Ms. Pollock after she broke the terms of her release agreement with the government and disappeared.
The judge, Carl J. Nichols, also issued an arrest warrant on Friday for one of Ms. Pollock’s co-defendants in the case, Joseph Daniel Hutchinson, after he, too, violated the terms of his release. Mr. Hutchinson was scheduled to be tried separately in August.
While it is fairly rare for defendants charged in connection with the Capitol attack to go on the lam, it has happened before. In March 2022, more than a year after he was charged, Evan Neumann, a California man accused of assaulting a police officer and engaging in physical violence on the Capitol grounds, was granted asylum in Belarus.
Shortly after arriving in the country, Mr. Neumann told a local TV station: “I am glad Belarus took care of me. I am upset to find myself in a situation where I have problems in my own country.”
Ms. Pollock is the sister of Jonathan Daniel Pollock, who is also facing charges in her case and has been a fugitive since the accusations against him were initially filed. The F.B.I. has offered a $30,000 reward for any information about Mr. Pollock, who has been accused of attacking multiple police officers on Jan. 6.
Several Jan. 6 defendants have been denied bail and have been kept in custody for nearly two years for the express purpose of preventing their escape before trial. Ms. Pollock and Mr. Hutchinson were both released from custody on strict conditions requiring them to wear GPS monitors in July 2021, one month after they were arrested.
“Ms. Pollock had been diligently assisting in her defense for her upcoming trial before her disappearance,” her lawyer, Elita Amato, said in a statement released on Monday. “I am ready to assist and guide her in resolving her bench warrant before the court.”
Mr. Hutchinson is representing himself, and a lawyer appointed by the court to assist him, Tim Saviello, declined to comment on the case.
Ms. Pollock is accused of elbowing an officer in the chest during the Capitol attack and of trying to take the officer’s baton. Prosecutors say that Mr. Hutchinson punched one officer and yanked at the sleeve of another after helping to tear down a fence outside the Capitol, allowing other rioters to surge forward.
Three other people, including Ms. Pollock’s brother, have been charged in the case with various crimes. Two of them, Joshua Doolin and Michael Perkins, who were originally scheduled to go on trial on Monday with Ms. Pollock, are set to be tried starting on Tuesday.
Source: nytimes.com
