One is a retired New York City police officer and Marine veteran from Goshen who is charged with tackling and choking a police officer outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Another is a Sullivan County native accused of fighting with police at a Capitol entrance for more than two hours and swinging an aluminum baseball bat and riot shield at the officers. Lightweight Riot Control Equipment
A third is a Newburgh tattoo artist caught in videos dressed in militia gear at the Capitol that fateful day, first shouting at police outside and later joining the pro-Trump mob that invaded the building.
Eight current and former Hudson Valley residents have now been charged with participating in the melee that interrupted Congress as it met to certify President Joe Biden's election victory. They are among at least 280 people arrested so far for an attack in which 140 police officers were hurt and five people died, including an officer.
All of the local suspects are men, ranging in age from 25 to 54. At least two are fathers. Six have been released since their arrests, while the two facing the most serious charges – assaulting police officers with dangerous weapons – remain in custody as their cases unfold.
MORE: Former NYPD cop from Goshen charged in Capitol attack
MORE: Newburgh tattoo artist faces media scrutiny
MORE: Prosecutors say Sullivan native fought cops for two hours
The most recent arrest came Saturday afternoon when FBI agents picked up 36-year-old Roberto Minuta at the tattoo parlor he has operated on Broadway in Newburgh since 2013.
Minuta, who belongs to the Oath Keepers militia group, was the subject of national media reports weeks earlier after internet sleuths disseminated a video of him guarding Trump ally Roger Stone in Washington on the morning of the riot. They also found footage of him berating cops outside the Capitol and walking through the building with the invading horde – the images that led to his arrest.
"We don't care about your jobs!" he shouted at cops in the video taken outside.
Minuta, a 2002 Newburgh Free Academy graduate, was released after posting a $150,000 bail bond and is due back in court on March 17. His attorney said in an online court appearance on Monday that Minuta's family recently moved to Texas, and that he makes periodic trips back to Orange County for tattoo appointments.
One of those being detained is Thomas Webster, the retired New York City cop and Marine veteran. Webster, a 54-year-old Goshen resident who now runs a landscaping business, allegedly cursed and swung a metal flag pole at a Capitol police officer before pushing through a barricade and tackling the cop.
Webster then sat on the toppled officer and tried ripping off his gas mask and helmet, pulling so hard that the officer's chin strap cut off his breathing, an FBI agent said in court papers. Ten images of the assault recorded by police body-worn cameras were included in the complaint.
The flag pole Webster was carrying bore a Marine Corps flag, according to the criminal complaint.
In a recording quoted in court papers, he yelled at police, using expletives and calling them "commies."
Webster turned himself on Feb. 22 at the FBI's office at Stewart Airport in New Windsor after images of his face had circulated on the bureau's wanted posters.
Also behind bars is Edward Lang, a 25-year-old originally from Sullivan County who was arrested at a Newburgh apartment on Jan. 16, ten days after the Capitol siege.
Lang, a 2013 graduate of Delaware Valley High School in Pike County, Pennsylvania, is accused of the most sustained violence among the local suspects. Prosecutors say he helped lead a crowd that battled an overwhelmed police contingent at a Capitol entrance for more than two hours, taking only occasional breaks to wash pepper spray from his eyes.
Images in court papers show Lang wielding a baseball bat and riot shield as he confronted police. Authorities say he littered the internet with images and boastful messages about his participation in the violent attack, even goading police afterward to arrest him.
The other local suspects charged in connection with the riot are: William Pepe, 31, of Beacon; Christopher Kelly, 44, of New City; William Vogel, 26, of Pawling; Christopher Moynihan, 30, of Salt Point; and Brian Gundersen, 26, an Armonk native who reportedly was living with his mother in State College, Pennsylvania, when he was arrested.
Gundersen, a 2012 Byram Hills High School graduate, was wearing his Byram Hills varsity football jacket when he allegedly stormed the Capitol – a detail that helped authorities identify him in images of the rioting crowd.
Moynihan was arrested Feb. 26, becoming the third Dutchess County resident to face charges. Authorities say that after illegally entering the Capitol, Moynihan was recorded on a video as he rifled through congressional documents and took photos of pages with his phone.
"There's got to be something we can use against these f---ing scumbags," he is quoted as saying in the video.
Moynihan was later seen on the Senate floor and dais in photos reproduced in the court papers.
Two of the Hudson Valley suspects had ties to right-wing groups.
Minuta belongs to the Oath Keepers, a militia that has had at least 10 members charged so far in connection with the Capitol riot. And Pepe, the 31-year-old Beacon resident, allegedly belonged to the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group. At least seven members of that group have been charged, according to published reports.
Pc Anti Riot Shield Factories All of the suspects are being prosecuted in federal court in Washington, D.C. Lang and Webster are being held in Washington.