A suspect in the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol was taken into custody during a recent traffic stop in Cleveland. The FBI picked up 49-year-old Richard Avirett from jail Monday morning. He was wanted on a federal warrant charging him with five counts related to the attack.
A Cleveland police officer arrested Avirett on February 11 after a license plate reader alerted them to an active warrant on the owner of the vehicle Avirett was driving. During the traffic stop, the officer confirmed Avirett’s identity and discovered he was wanted on a federal hold by the FBI.
The officer took Avirett into custody without incident. Cleveland Police Chief Jeff Shoemaker says no local charges were filed.
According to the criminal complaint, federal authorities charged Avirett with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; entering and remaining in certain rooms in the Capitol building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
U.S. Department of Justice records show the FBI was first tipped off about Avirett’s identity in January 2021. Agents subsequently found video of him outside the Capitol and inside a senator’s office. The FBI also executed a search warrant on his Facebook account and found a selfie taken inside the Capitol with a message, “I’m inside.”
Avirett, of Riverview, Florida, was formally charged on January 19, 2023, three weeks before his arrest in Cleveland.
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Dean Dyer of WRWH Radio News in Cleveland contributed to this report
