FBI arrests man on Jan. 6 assault charges with help of online sleuths and matching moles
Source: NBC News
May 22, 2024, 1:59 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The FBI arrested an alleged Jan. 6 participant in Maryland on Wednesday and charged him with assaults on law enforcement after identifying him with the help of online sleuths and matching moles on his face to footage from the 2021 Capitol attack.
Thomas "Tommy" Joseph Kelly, Jr. faces charges of assaulting officers; assaulting officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and civil disorder, along with several misdemeanors. The bureau said Kelly used a long pole to repeatedly strike officers inside the lower west tunnel leading into the Capitol building, where some of the worst violence of the day took place.
Kelly, the FBI said, was listed as no. 189 on the FBI's Capitol Violence webpage, essentially its "most wanted" list for Jan. 6 suspects. Online "sedition hunters" who have aided the bureau with hundreds of Jan. 6 arrests referred to him as #Zionor due to the brand of the snow goggles he was wearing during the attack.
Online sleuths have routinely used facial recognition to identify rioters, and the FBI said that it was tipped off about publicly available photos of Kelly on a wedding and engagement photography website. The bureau put particular focus on the “size and position of two moles” that helped confirm the identification, according to an FBI affidavit.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-arrests-man-jan-6-assault-charges-help-online-sleuths-matching-mol-rcna153489
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