The 37-year-old Bucks County man already charged with taking part in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been formally indicted.
The indictment against Ryan Stephen Samsel was issued Thursday after a federal grand jury reviewed evidence from prosecutors. The charges are of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; carrying out an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds; and obstruction of an official proceeding, according to court records.
In the federal system, prosecutors take cases involving felony offenses to a grand jury. While charges can be filed by prosecutors, the grand jury will determine whether the evidence supports the government’s probable cause. A majority of jurors have to concur in order to issue an indictment.
Samsel has been in federal custody since his arrest in late January by federal authorities. He has bounced between jails, tried to return to custody in Pennsylvania, and reportedly was badly attacked in one correctional facility. He recently told a judge he was worried about medical care behind bars.
During the January 6 attack, Samsel was among the first groups to break through the police lines at the Capitol complex. He assaulted a female federal police officer. She suffered a brain injury and had not yet returned to full duty in June, authorities said.
“You have stolen moments away from me that I can’t get back … You stole months of me working alongside this country’s most dedicated police officers,” the officer said to Samsel in a written statement to the court.
In addition to breaking the police line and attacking the officer, Samsel has been accused of confronting other officers and attempting to steal gear from a uniformed U.S. Capitol police officer, the FBI said.
Samsel has a history of violence, largely against women, over his adult life. In one case, he attacked his pregnant girlfriend, smashed hot pizza in her face, beat her, and held her head under water, according to court papers.
The prosecutor in the case has said Samsel is among “most dangerous category of offenders” connected to the Capitol attack.
Raechel Genco, 38, of Bristol Township’s Levittown section, is charged with going to Washington D.C. with Samsel and breaching Capitol grounds.
Samsel has gone through several attorneys since his arrest. His most recent attorney, John Pierce, who has represented accused killer Kyle Rittenhouse and lawyer to then-President Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani, withdrew from the case in mid-August. Pierce, who Newsweek described as an “anti-vaccination advocate” and attorney, was reportedly in the hospital non-responsive with COVID-19 as of earlier this week.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
See also:
Insurrection Defendant from Bucks County Placed In Prison Lockdown
Bucks County Man Charged In Capitol Attack Transferred To PA Custody
Feds: Bucks County Man Arrested In Capitol Attack Has ‘Extensive History’ Of Violence
FBI Capitol Riot Investigators Arrest Another Person From Bucks County
