Geoffrey Shough was finally arrested for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. The FBI announced his arrest on Monday, saying the 37-year-old Texan “was captured on video waving a Texas flag and wearing a jacket over what appeared to be a body armor vest, a ballistic-style helmet, goggles, and hard-knuckle gloves.” He faces one felony charge and four misdemeanor charges.
ABC affiliate KVUE reports that Mr. Shough is allegedly a member of the Oath Keepers and was hunted down with help from his ex-girlfriend. Shough’s ex seems to have been able to place him in D.C. at the time, when he claimed he was “visiting friends.” She was also able to positively identify him from various images and videos taken on Jan. 6, at the Capitol building.
According to the criminal complaint, Shough faces charges of civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, two charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building and in a restricted building, as well as “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.”
In the government’s “statement of facts,” the FBI details identifying and placing Shough on the Capitol grounds, being a total Texas-flag-waving patriot, and wearing the kind of gear one wears when preparing to hurt people and break things. From there, the FBI says they received a tip in March by way of “Tipster 1,” on behalf of another tipster. (The referring tipster seems to have been friends with either Shough’s current girlfriend, or with someone who knew Shough and Shough’s girlfriend.)
Investigators spoke with Shough’s ex-girlfriend, who was able to pretty clearly identify Shough from a variety of images, and along with another tipster who was able to both identify Shough and the fact that he owned a motorcycle—thus circumstantially explaining the motorcycle gloves in the header photos above.
This information went a long way toward identifying him positively, but for certainty, the final step was a look through Shough’s banking interactions. Lo and behold, Mr. Austin, Texas, was in the Arlington, Virginia area and at a D.C. restaurant—all around the time of the insurrection. And then there is this piece of information that investigators came across:
In addition, Shough’s financial records showed a Dec. 17, 2020, payment of $129.99 to “Oath Keepers.” In images from Jan. 6, 2021, I observed a patch or decal on the back of Shough’s helmet that matches the logo from the Oath Keepers website.
The FBI was also able to show records that Shough purchased an old-timey Texas flag like the one being idiotically displayed by the man in the images. Shough’s connection to the Oath Keepers organization is important here, as at least 11 members of the white supremacist militia group have been charged with seditious conspiracy related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
Possibly more intriguing is the fact that the founder of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, is also from Texas—just like Shough. Rhodes has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and has, so far, not been granted bail ahead of his trial. In recent days, news has leaked that the FBI is investigating a possible garage meeting between Oath Keepers leader Rhodes and Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.
As Daily Kos’ Brandi Buchman has outlined, the timeline around the events of Jan. 6, does not simply include the hours of that fateful day. It goes back a bit, and people like Shough, with banking records showing their participation in the days preceding the insurrection, may hold a clue to prosecutors' strategy in proving conspiracy and sedition charges.
RELATED: Tick-tock: A timeline of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
RELATED: An Oath Keeper leader and a Proud Boy leader walk into a garage and ... the FBI is investigating