Trinity man to be arraigned on Capitol riot charges

The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

May 1—TRIAD — A Trinity man charged with taking part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is scheduled to have an arraignment hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Bradley Stuart Bennett, 41, was ordered held in federal custody while awaiting trial after a hearing Thursday, according to a post on Twitter Friday by Kyle Cheney, a reporter for the website Politico who has been following Capitol riot court cases.

"Prosecutors say he evaded FBI apprehension for 20 days, and sought to cover his tracks while fleeing. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey agreed," Cheney wrote.

Bennett turned himself in at the federal courthouse in Charlotte April 12. He was indicted in March along with Elizabeth Rose Williams, 31, of Texas, who was arrested in late March and is identified in an arrest warrant affidavit as Bennett's girlfriend.

Harvey's order regarding Bennett's detention status was not among the court files available online Friday afternoon.

Bennett and Williams are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon before Judge James Boasberg of U.S. District Court in Washington.

The court files contain a number of photos of Bennett and Williams at and inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. An FBI agent's affidavit also referred to a Facebook post by Bennett about that day's events that ended with, "TODAY WAS A REVOLUTIONARY MESSAGE. WE WON'T GO AWAY. WE WILL FIND VICTORY."

Bennett is described in the files as an adherent of QAnon conspiracy theories, which among many other things assert that national Democrats and a group of "global elites" are running a massive ring devoted to child sex trafficking and cannibalism.

More than 400 people now face trial in connection with the Capitol riot, which resulted in injuries to more than 100 law enforcement officers, several deaths and millions of dollars in damage. Prosecutors have said they expect about 100 more people to be charged.

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