Vitali GossJankowski (images via FBI)
A Florida man convicted of assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 got physical with law enforcement — again — when he learned that a federal judge decided to send him to jail ahead of sentencing for sending threatening messages to law enforcement.
Vitali GossJankowski, 34, was convicted in March of assault, obstructing an official proceeding, and obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder. As Law&Crime previously reported, he was seen “activating” a Taser multiple times while in the crowd, and prosecutors say he may have tried to use it on Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone.
At the time of GossJankowski’s conviction, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman did not set a sentencing date. In September, according to the federal docket, the defendant filed a motion for acquittal and a motion for a new trial.
According to prosecutors, however, GossJankowksi hasn’t helped his cause.
In recent weeks, prosecutors say, GossJankowski’s conduct “has escalated significantly.” While he previously had used his social media to “track and publicly harass members of law enforcement and the FBI’s Washington Field Office,” GossJankowski has now “sent intimidating, direct messages to a specific law enforcement officer who previously testified in this case.”
GossJankowski’s previous social media posts included “photographs of locations, vehicles, and individuals associated with the FBI, usually with the defendant’s statements overlayed.” According to a motion filed on Oct. 17, however, the defendant sent text messages that included racist, antisemitic, and harassing language directly to a law enforcement officer involved in the case.
Prosecutors asked that GossJankowski be sent to jail ahead of sentencing, and Friedman agreed.
At a hearing Monday, according to reports, GossJankowski did not take kindly to Friedman’s decision.
GossJankowski, who is deaf, “visibly reacted when an ASL interpreter who participated in the hearing via Zoom communicated Friedman’s decision,” local CBS affiliate WUSA reported. “When the hearing ended, Gossjankowski began making low moaning sounds — and when a Marshal approached him to take him into custody, he resisted.”
More than half a dozen U.S. Marshals, FBI agents, and court security were involved in the effort to subdue the defendant. GossJankowski reportedly “dragged multiple men along with him as he tried to reach the courtroom door,” WUSA reported. “As the scuffle threatened to knock over the defense tables, Gossjankowski’s attorney attempted to convey him a message on a yellow legal pad while the ASL interpreter looked on helplessly from a monitor, until that too was knocked over.”
“GossJankowski is built like a Division-1 linebacker,” CBS News reported. “Took a while for Feds to contain him.”
CBS also reported that the confrontation was “a first” among the nearly 1,200 Jan. 6 cases filed to date.
“All of this is extremely troubling,” Friedman said, according to WUSA. “It’s dangerous. It’s putting others in danger, including prosecutors and law enforcement. I’m just stunned.”
GossJankowski’s text messages “were sent from the defendant’s cell phone number to the cell phone number of one of the law enforcement officers who had arranged the defendant’s FBI interview and arrest in January 2021 and who later testified at a hearing before this Court in this case,” prosecutors wrote in their detention request. “Last weekend, the defendant also attempted to place phone calls to the same cell phone number.”
The government’s motion did not identify the officer by name.
“He is facing a potentially substantial term of incarceration – which the government intends to seek at sentencing,” the motion says. “And his behavior has highlighted a complete lack of remorse, a complete failure to accept responsibility, and a complete inability to comport himself with the basic requirements of release pending sentencing.”
GossJankowski was convicted after a nine-day trial and one day of jury deliberation and now faces up to decades behind bars. According to prosecutors, GossJankowski — then attending a Washington, D.C., university for deaf and hard of hearing students — had joined the mob of angry Donald Trump supporters in the hourslong battle against police at the Lower West Terrace tunnel. He had gone to the Capitol after attending Trump’s speech at the so-called “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House, where the then-president encouraged his followers to “fight like hell” against the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win.
Fanone, who was dragged into the crowd, assaulted, and Tased multiple times by a mob of rioters, suffered a minor heart attack and required hospitalization as a result. GossJankowski “recognized Fanone in the snapshot and described him as the officer with tattoos on his neck,” the initial charging documents say. “He said he did not use his Taser on Officer Fanone, but if he touched him, he touched his helmet and it was merely to help him.”
The federal docket didn’t reflect any future hearings following Monday’s fracas.
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