Note: the following release was made available earlier today by the U.S. Department of Justice. – KtE
WASHINGTON — Two men from Georgia have been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges, including for assaulting law enforcement during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their 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 2020 presidential election.
Cepane Sarty, 38, of Marietta, Georgia, and Seth Sarty, 45, of Rockmart, Georgia, are charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with a felony offense of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.
In addition to the felonies, both men are charged with misdemeanor offenses of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, engaging in an act of physical violence in the grounds or any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Court documents state that Cepane and Seth are brothers. The two were arrested on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, by the FBI in Georgia.
According to court documents, the Sarty brothers were present on the Capitol grounds and inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The two entered the Capitol building via the Senate Wing Door at approximately 2:21 p.m., less than 10 minutes after the initial breach in the area. The brothers then made their way to the Crypt and toward the Memorial Door, gathering with a group of rioters confronting a police line. By 2:32 p.m., the group of rioters, including the Sarty brothers, had broken through the police line and gained access to the House side of the building.
The brothers then made their way to and entered the office suite of the Speaker of the House. The two then entered the Rotunda and soon exited after coming in contact with a chemical agent. The brothers briefly exited the Capitol via the Rotunda doors only to return and re-enter the building at 3:04 p.m. The defendants then made their way back into the Rotunda and encountered a police line of law enforcement officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police attempting to clear the area. The brothers then made their way to the front of the police line. Police then began a push to clear rioters from the Rotunda and were actively resisted and obstructed by the rioters, including Cepane and Seth.
At about 3:09 p.m., the brothers stood at the front of the mob of rioters resisting police and began assaulting officers. Body-worn camera and Closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage capture the pair shoving officers and temporarily driving them back. Court documents say that for the next nineteen seconds, Seth and Cepane continued to fight with police, preventing the police from clearing the Rotunda of rioters. Police then deployed a chemical riot control agent in the direction of the defendants, causing the brothers to exit the Capitol through the Rotunda doors at 3:13 p.m.
This 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 Northern District of Georgia.
This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Atlanta, Baltimore, and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.
In the 37 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,313 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 469 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
