Tampa man charged in connection with US Capitol riot

TAMPA Two other Florida men, including one with a Tampa address, face charges related to the U.S. Capitol riot, records show.

Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, and Graydon Young, 54, were both arrested and charged with several crimes in connection with the January 6 insurgency by a crowd of Trump supporters in which at least five people died, according to the archives of the federal court.

Hillsborough County voter registers show Hodgkins listed an address in the Tampas Sulfur Springs neighborhood. He first registered to vote in Hillsborough in 2016 and voted there in the November 2020 election.

Reservation records show Young, who is being held in Pinellas County Jail, lists an address in Englewood, an unincorporated area that straddles Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

Records show the two men were accused by federal prosecutors of entering a building or restricted land and tampering with or destroying records and documents.

In addition, Hodgkins faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, and Young is charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Destroying, Altering, or Falsifying Records in the part of a federal investigation.

According to a federal complaint filed in the US District Court on February 9, the investigation into Hodgkins began on January 22, when the FBI received advice from someone who knows him.

The tipster had received an apparent selfie-style photograph from a friend of a friend showing a man with long dark hair, a black mustache and beard standing in the Senate chamber well, the complaint says. The man, who wears a dark t-shirt with Trump in white lettering, appears to have a pair of goggles under his chin. The tipster said the photo was obtained from Speak, the far-right social media app used by many Trump supporters.

The tipster identified the man as Hodgkins, the complaint says. An FBI investigator compared the photo to Hodgkins’ Florida driver’s license photo and concluded that they appeared to be the same person.

Hodgkins also appears in a video taken in the Senate Chamber by a reporter for The New Yorker magazine, according to the complaint. In the footage, Hodgkins also stands in the chamber well and holds a red flag bearing the Trump 2020 slogan.

In an interview with investigators on Jan.26, Hodgkins admitted to being the man in the selfie-style photo and another photo taken in the bedroom, the complaint states.

According to Hodgkins, he saw other people around him smashing windows, individuals engaged in a knife fight and others injured, but Hodgkins did not know these people or participate in the driving, the complaint says. .

Hodgkins also appears in closed-circuit security footage taken that day, according to the complaint. At one point in the video, he can be seen walking around the Senate Chamber with glasses on and taking pictures with his cell phone. At another point, as he stood by a desk with papers on it, he can be seen donning what appear to be white latex gloves.

Records show Hodgkins was arrested Monday and released on $ 25,000 bail after appearing in Tampa court. He was appointed Federal Public Defender. The lawyer cited for him in court records did not immediately return a message from the Tampa bay times Friday.

The federal complaint outlining the allegations against Young was not available on Friday. Records show he was arrested on February 15 and was due to appear before a federal judge in Tampa on Friday. The private defense attorney listed for him in court records did not immediately return a message on Friday.

A man who answered a call from a Times The reporter at a phone number listed for Hodgkins declined to comment on Friday afternoon before hanging up. And a woman who answered a phone number listed for Young said he was unavailable and declined to comment before hanging up.

Hodgkins is at least the second man with ties to Hillsborough County who has been arrested in connection with the riots. Matthew Council of Riverview was arrested in January for illegal entry.

Times editors Dan Sullivan and Margo Snipe contributed to this report.