WASHINGTON — An Elizabethtown man has agreed to plead guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, acknowledging in court records that he was part of a group of “angry and violent” pro-Trump rioters who surrounded and assaulted DC police as part of an effort to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Donald Lee Moss of Elizabethtown has signed an agreement with federal prosecutors in which he signaled that he would plead guilty to one of seven criminal offenses he had been charged with and cooperate with law enforcement in an additional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
According to a copy of the plea offer, Moss agreed to plead guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer during the U.S. Capitol attack, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.
Moss’ decision to sign a plea offer came just days after co-defendant James Link Behymer of Hope — who is described in court records as Moss’ friend — agreed to plead guilty to same charge.
Based on the two men not having prior felony convictions and that “the parties agree that (they) used violence or credible threats of violence in connection with the offense,” federal prosecutors calculated their sentencing guidelines to be 24 to 30 months in prison and a $10,000 to $95,000 fine, according to court records.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan — who also is presiding over the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — has scheduled a change of plea hearing for the two Bartholomew County men for Oct. 3.
Behymer’s change of plea hearing originally had been scheduled for Sept. 11.
Federal prosecutors allege that Behymer and Moss were part of a group of “angry and violent rioters” who descended upon and assaulted D.C. Metropolitan police officers near the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol who were attempting to keep them from breaching the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal authorities said in the complaint they were able to identify the two Bartholomew County men through cellphone records — including a cellphone number with an 812 area code that connected to a cell site that provided service inside the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection — as well as a witness described as a “longtime associate of Moss and Behymer” who identified the two defendants after being shown still images.
Federal prosecutors also included images they claim are of the two men that were taken from officers’ body cameras and third-party footage.
The complaint alleges that Moss and Behymer shoved officers’ arms away from them as the group of rioters “surged toward the surrounded MPD officers and began violently assaulting the officers.” The complaint further alleges that Behymer struck an officer in the wrist and later attempted to pry a baton out of an officer’s hand while stating, “Now I’m being soft, but I do want this pole.”
Moss, who at one point shouted, “This is our (expletive) house” while pointing at the Capitol, allegedly struck an officer’s arm and baton and forcefully pushed another police officer from behind during the attack, the complaint states.
The two Bartholomew County men made their way through the crowd and entered the U.S. Capitol and entered the Crypt, a vaulted space located underneath the Capitol Rotunda. They later exited the Capitol but reentered after rioters broke through a barricade set up by Capitol police at the Senate Wing doors.
After reentering, they returned to the Crypt and moved a sign that had been placed on a statute outside the Crypt’s entrance and put it on another statute before taking pictures of it, according to the complaint. On one side, the sign included the initials of the Chinese Communist Party with a circle and red line through it, while “America First” and “Never give up, never surrender” were written on the other side.
When the two men left the area, Moss took the sign with him and was allegedly captured in video footage carrying the sign inside the U.S. Capitol, as well as outside the building.
The decision of Moss and Behymer to plead guilty raises the total number of Bartholomew County residents who have agreed to plead guilty to criminal offenses related to the deadly U.S. Capitol attack to three.
In April 2021, former Columbus resident and former heavy metal musician Jon Schaffer pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, armed with bear spray.
