MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Three more Minnesota men were arrested Monday for allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., charged 62-year-old Robert Westbury, his 19-year-old son Isaac Westbury and another man, 35-year-old Aaron James, with crimes ranging from assaulting Capitol police officers to disorderly conduct, the Star Tribune reported. The three men, from Lindstrom, were arrested about six months after another son of Westbury’s, 26-year-old Jonah Westbury, was also charged in connection with the riot.
FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump hold on to a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
With Monday’s arrests, a total of eight Minnesotans have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. More than 600 people have been charged overall.
Rosemarie Westbury, who is listed as living at the men’s address but did not confirm her relationship to them, spoke to the Star Tribune and described the case as a “tyrannical system that is bullying the citizens of this once great United States of America.”
“It’s a false narrative,” Westbury said. “None of these individuals that were brought into custody have any criminal records. None of them have any criminality within them. None of them did any criminal activities.”
She later added: “The government that we have in place is a domestic threat as far as I’m concerned.”
Keala Ede, a federal public defender assigned to represent the three men, declined to comment to the newspaper.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Schultz allowed all three men to be released from federal custody in Minnesota after initial court appearances Monday. Their next court appearances are scheduled for Oct. 12 before a District of Columbia judge via videoconference.
