Capitol riot: Woodstock, Ohio, reels as 2 militia members charged kens5.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kens5.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A couple blocks from the Jolly Roger, congregants at the Free Will Baptist Church have been trying to wrap their heads around it, said Keith Pack, a church deacon.
“Just shocked that it would be in the small town of Woodstock,” said Pack, who lives near the town of fewer than 300 people.
Freddy Cruz, a Southern Poverty Law Center research analyst, agreed “it s shocking” that people from a place such as Woodstock would emerge into the spotlight through a bold insurrection that claimed five lives while hoping to overturn Republican Donald Trump s election loss.
While shocking, Cruz added, it shouldn t have been.
Capitol rioter, 66, accused of being a leader for the far-right militia group Oath Keepers is a retired FBI section chief and decorated Navy veteran who has had top secret security clearance since 1979
Thomas Caldwell, who prosecutors said holds a leadership role in an extremist group, worked as a section chief for the FBI from 2009 to 2010, his attorneys said. The FBI didn t comment
Caldwell was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy and described as 100% disabled, according to his attorneys
The defense said Caldwell has held a top-secret security clearance since 1979, which required multiple special background investigations
A couple blocks from the Jolly Roger, congregants at the Free Will Baptist Church have been trying to wrap their heads around it, said Keith Pack, a church deacon.
“Just shocked that it would be in the small town of Woodstock,” said Pack, who lives near the town of fewer than 300 people.
Freddy Cruz, a Southern Poverty Law Center research analyst, agreed “it s shocking” that people from a place such as Woodstock would emerge into the spotlight through a bold insurrection that claimed five lives while hoping to overturn Republican Donald Trump s election loss.
While shocking, Cruz added, it shouldn t have been.
WOODSTOCK, Ohio
In this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, one-stoplight town, dozens of residents still fly “Trump 2020” and “Make America Great Again” flags.
A now-shuttered bar brought the FBI and other investigators to Woodstock, Ohio, about 40 miles northwest of Columbus, this month. Bedsheets and drapes cover the windows of the Jolly Roger Bar and Grill, except for a sliver where an “open” sign flickers in red, white and blue.
It is here, federal authorities allege, that Army veteran Jessica Watkins tended bar and recruited members for a local militia group she founded in 2019, according to her claims in social media posts. She affiliated it with the Oath Keepers, an extremist, militaristic group believed to have thousands of members nationally, authorities say.