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Arrests continue in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol; thus far, at least four Coloradans have been arrested and charged in relation to the insurrection attempt. In addition, a fifth man with ties to this state was busted the following day, after a tip about threats to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi led to the discovery of his major stash of guns and ammunition.
Here's an introduction to the quintet:
According to an indictment issued in his name, Robert Gieswein, a 24-year-old resident of Woodland Park, used a temporary barrier, a spray cannister and a baseball bat against U.S. Capitol Police officers. The charges against him include assault on a federal officer, destruction of government property, obstruction of an official proceeding, violent entry or disorderly conduct, aiding and abetting, and being present at a restricted building or grounds.
The feds believe Gieswein is a member of the militia group known as the 3 Percenters, which we name-checked in our recent post about the Denver Police Department and possible racists in the ranks. Back in 2018, Westword obtained a photo of Michael Traudt, previously in the news over his 2015 killing of Paul Castaway, a suicidal man who was wielding a knife when he was fatally shot, showing that one hand bore a tattoo of the logo used by the group. Traudt insisted that he wasn't a member of the 3 Percenters and had gotten the tat because he saw it as patriotic, and the department meted out no discipline against him, asking only that he cover the image while on duty. Traudt is still on the force, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Gieswein is also thought to be the main force behind the Woodland Wild Dogs, described as a private paramilitary training outfit.
Boen, a 48-year-old resident of Frederick with a previous arrest for second-degree assault in 1992, is said to have been stopped in the area between the White House and the Capitol known as Freedom Plaza because of a "noticeable bulge" in his jacket.
According to his arrest affidavit, a search revealed a Glock semi-automatic handgun for which he had neither the proper registration nor a permit allowing him to pack it, along with some ammo and a knife. Boen has been accused of possessing a prohibited weapon, possession of a large-capacity magazine, possession of unregistered ammunition and carrying a weapon without a license.
EXPANDAn Englewood resident, 34-year-old Stanley Williams was stopped while strolling Pennsylvania Avenue not far from the White House on the evening of January 6, nearly two hours after a curfew went into effect. He insisted that he was simply walking back to his hotel after learning that he was supposed to be off the streets by then — but he had a blackjack on his person, resulting in both a curfew violation beef and a possession-of-a-prohibited-weapon charge.
He, too, has a Colorado arrest record, owing to a previous harassment accusation and some traffic issues.
In recent years, Klete Keller, 38, has been working as a realtor for the Colorado Springs brokerage firm Hoff & Leigh, from which he recently resigned. But the giant of a man (he's 6'6") was once a renowned swimmer for the U.S. Olympic team, and authorities contend that he was wearing his jacket for the squad when he joined the invading horde that broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The complaint against Keller reads in part: "In light of the dangerous circumstances caused by the unlawful entry to the Capitol, including the danger posed by individuals who had entered the Capitol without any security screening or weapons check, Congressional proceedings could not resume until after every unauthorized occupant had left the Capitol."
Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr.
Cleveland Grover Meredith is identified as a Colorado resident in court documents, but no more specifics about his address are included — and he's also believed to have spent time in Georgia. His origins, though, are getting less attention from authorities than are the assorted implements of destruction hauled in by federal agents after responding to a January 7 tip that he had headed to Washington, D.C., in order to shoot Pelosi and the city's mayor, Muriel Bowser.
When agents showed up at Meredith's hotel room, he told them he hadn't arrived in time to take part in the assault on the Capitol, and that's fortunate given his armaments, some of which were stored in a truck and trailer. A Glock 19, an assault rifle, a 9 mm pistol and over 2,500 rounds of ammunition, some of it armor-piercing, were collected. Among the charges against Meredith are possession of an unregistered firearm, plus an assault claim involving his supposed head-butting of a pedestrian.
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