Image by Richard Burton from Pixabay
July 11, 2023 - WASHINGTON – A New Jersey man has been found guilty in the District of Columbia of felony and misdemeanor charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Christopher Joseph Quaglin, 37, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, was found guilty on July 10, 2023, of 14 charges, including 12 felonies and two misdemeanors. Judge Trevor N. McFadden returned the verdict after a trial in which Quaglin and the government agreed upon a stipulated set of facts regarding his conduct.
The charges Quaglin was convicted of include assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; inflicting bodily injury on certain officers; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; robbery and aiding and abetting; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting; robbery and aiding and abetting and two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting; civil disorder; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.
According to the stipulated facts, Quaglin traveled from his home in New Brunswick to Washington D.C. to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, and to obstruct the certification process of the Electoral College. After attending the rally, Quaglin made his way to the U.S. Capitol grounds intending to stop or prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote results. At approximately 1:08 p.m., Quaglin was seen repeatedly assaulting multiple law enforcement officers guarding and protecting the Capitol from rioters. Body worn-camera footage shows Quaglin, wearing protective gear including a helmet and gas mask, engaging violently and disruptively with police. Quaglin was captured on video approaching the police line and verbally engaging with Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, shouting, “You don’t want this fight. You do not want this f****** fight. You are on the wrong f****** side.”
According to court documents, surveillance video from that day shows Quaglin pointing at and shoving a United States Capitol Police (USCP) officer on the lower west terrace while appearing increasingly agitated. Quaglin can be seen grabbing and pushing the officer by the neck before working with other rioters to rip one of the barrier fences out of the hands of MPD officers. Around 2:34 p.m., body-worn camera footage captured Quaglin lunging at an officer and pushing him down. As a result, several officers dropped their shields, which Quaglin and other rioters stole and passed back into the crowd.
At 3:03 p.m., Quaglin entered the lower west terrace tunnel in order to gain entry into the Capitol. According to video footage, Quaglin visibly pushed his way to the front of a large crowd and continued attempting to push past police guarding the terrace exterior doors. For the 15 minutes that followed, Quaglin attacked police officers with the stolen riot shield and sprayed them with a chemical irritant, also called OC spray.
Court documents say that at 3:06 p.m., Quaglin sprayed the chemical irritant at MPD and USCP officers, and again, at 3:07 p.m., directly into the face of an MPD officer who was not wearing a face shield or gas mask. Quaglin is later seen at the front of the line pushing up against the same MPD Officer he sprayed with the chemical irritant as the crowd yells “heave ho” and puts their collective mass behind Quaglin and others. Quaglin remained on the front line of rioters impeding police until approximately 3:18 p.m. when he was pushed out of the tunnel with other rioters.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, who listed Quaglin as #58 on their seeking information photos. Significant assistance in this matter was provided by the FBI-Newark Field Office.
In the 30 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,069 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
Source: DOJ Release
