Left to right: Justice Department charging exhibit photos allegedly show Jan. 6 rioter and Proud Boys member Steve Saxiones using a “wrestling move” on an officer protecting the Capitol; Saxiones is arrested by Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021. He was released the same day.
A Texas man who was allegedly part of a Proud Boys back channel that coordinated logistics for members of the extremist group who descended on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, has been arrested — again. He was first arrested by police on the day of the assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Cedar Hill resident Steve Saxiones, 46, was apprehended in the Lone Star State on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Justice Department. A 13-page statement of facts filed by an FBI agent on March 26 illuminates the allegations underpinning a number of felony and misdemeanor charges filed against Saxiones including felony obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assault on a federal officer. He is also accused of five misdemeanors including disorderly conduct in a restricted building, act of physical violence and more.
The FBI statement of facts alleges that Saxiones was one of several rioters detained and arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6. He was released that same day by 4:30 p.m. At the time, a U.S. Capitol Police detention report stated there was “no complainant for the offense” and Saxiones was released without being charged. This description was likely due to the fact that the officer who made the initial arrest didn’t have the time to complete the intake process as the complex was actively being overrun, the statement of facts notes.
Steve Saxiones being released from U.S. Capitol Police custody at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. Photos courtesy of the U.S. Justice Department.
A review of surveillance footage from the Capitol allegedly shows Saxiones push a bike rack before using the full weight of his body to lunge toward a line of officers and use what one police officer later told authorities was something like a “wrestling move” to take her down to the ground. Wearing almost all black except for a royal blue undershirt, a green camouflage-style tactical vest under his jacket and, as the FBI noted, purple underwear, he was released by police at the processing center on Jan. 6.
Saxiones was seen on closed circuit television footage handling not one but two cellphones on Jan. 6. Records obtained by police allegedly show that Saxiones completed a Google Forms application to join the Proud Boys so-called “Ministry of Self-Defense” encrypted chat on Jan. 2, 2021. He completed the application using his Telegram handle, “Howie Feltersnatch.”
After his arrest on Jan. 6, prosecutors say this surveillance footage shows Proud Boys member Steve Saxiones in possession of two cellphones that they believe he used to communicate with members of the extremist group. Photos courtesy of the Justice Department.
The FBI says Saxiones claimed on the form to be a “2nd degree” member of the Proud Boys and that he had been part of the group since at least 2018. Investigators allege that once he completed the form, the group’s then-leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, added him and another prospective applicant who claimed to be from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Telegram records show that individual used the moniker “Long Winded SOB.”
Two days before Jan. 6, “Long Winded SOB” sent a message to the MOSD saying that he would come to Washington, D.C., with Saxiones. Records showed Saxiones flew from Dallas to Baltimore, Maryland, by way of Miami.
Surveillance footage shows Saxiones joined up with Proud Boys Dominic Pezzola, Aaron Sauer and William Pepe at a Marriott hotel just before midnight. Pezzola, while acquitted of seditious conspiracy, was convicted on numerous other charges; Sauer has been charged with civil disorder and assault and Pepe has been charged with conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and more.
Prosecutors say that a review of records shows that in the days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol, text messages inside the MOSD channel were riddled with discussions about the potential of violence including talk of stacking bodies “in front of Capitol Hill” as well as how “normies,” or people not part of the organization, could be useful to topple police lines. Records show Saxiones allegedly asking whether he could fly to Washington, D.C., with body armor, including a Kevlar vest. He also inquired about how to disguise himself and asked how members planned to stay in touch on the day — specifically, whether they would use two-way handheld programmable radios by the brand, Baofeng.
Notably, during the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial it was member Matthew Greene who testified that to improve communications among Proud Boys on the ground on Jan. 6, he helped program Baofeng radios for the group and wore an earpiece connected to one.
Saxiones was later added to another encrypted chat that flowed from the Ministry of Self Defense network known as “Boots on Ground.” It was a special group reserved only for those Proud Boys members expected to be present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and as the breach got underway it was inside this chat that members coordinated and cheered each other on.
“Storming the Capitol building right now!!” one user wrote, according to the FBI.
Saxiones allegedly posted just one message to the group, around 4:49 p.m. on Jan. 6.
“Where ya’ll at just got outta police custody,” he wrote.
Saxiones has not yet retained an attorney according to a review of his case on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia docket.
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