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Insurrectionist Peter J. Schwartz aka #bearsprayman Gets The Longest Prison Sentence Yet, 170 Months [1]

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Date: 2023-05-06

Schwartz can be seen with a wooden "tire knocker" and deploying stolen pepper spray in these photos from the Statement of Facts... He was one of the rioters involved in the West Terrace Tunnel battle.

Associated Press

Peter Schwartz’s prison sentence is the longest so far among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The judge who sentenced Schwartz also handed down the previous longest sentence — 10 years — to a retired New York Police Department officer who assaulted a police officer outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (snip) Mehta said Schwartz was a “soldier against democracy” who participated in “the kind of mayhem, chaos that had never been seen in the country’s history.” (snip) “You took it upon yourself to try and injure multiple police officers that day,” Mehta said.

NBC News

Peter Schwartz, who has 38 prior convictions, said he regretted the riot's damage. “I do sincerely regret the damage that January 6th has done to so many people and their lives,” said Schwartz, a 49-year-old welder from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said he did not buy Schwartz's remorse. “You are not a political prisoner Mr. Schwartz,” the judge said while imposing the sentence. “You are not Alexei Navalny,” Russia’s most prominent opposition politician. (snip) The Justice Department said that Schwartz has “demonstrated zero remorse for his conduct, giving repeated interviews from the D.C. Jail claiming that he is a completely innocent victim of a biased prosecution and has done nothing wrong.”

Schwartz was found guilty in a jury trial last December...

Department of Justice

Peter J. Schwartz, 49, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania was convicted at trial in U.S. District Court of: four counts of felony assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon; interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding, and related charges. (snip) According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, Schwartz and his wife Shelly Stallings, who pleaded guilty in August, traveled to Washington D.C. and were at the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building. While at the front of the police line around 2:28 pm, Schwartz threw a folding chair at officers, later claiming to a friend that he “started a riot” by “throwing the first chair.” He then stole MPD duffle bags full of O.C. spray canisters, which he distributed to other members of the mob, including his wife, so that they could deploy them against the police. Wielding a large MK-46 canister and carrying a wooden tire thumper, Schwartz began indiscriminately spraying O.C. spray at any retreating police officers he could find. Around the same time, defendant Maly pushed through the crowd toward a group of police officers trying to escape up onto the inaugural stage and sprayed with his own O.C. canister. Schwartz and Maly then followed officers up into the lower west terrace tunnel, where they were joined by defendant Brown and dozens of other rioters. As the crowd heaved against the makeshift police line, Jeffrey Brown received an O.C. spray canister that was passed from Schwartz to Maly to Brown. Brown tried to use it but couldn’t figure out the nozzle. He passed it back to Schwartz, who appears to have shown Brown how to use it and passed it back. Brown then dove towards the front of the police line, spraying them with yet more OC spray.

Schwartz was already a convicted felon, on release from prison due to the pandemic, when he joined the insurrection...

Courier Journal

An affidavit says the FBI National Threat Operations Center received a tip Jan. 11 from an individual "who is personally acquainted with Schwartz." The individual said Schwartz was involved in the riot in Washington, D.C., along with supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and that he was supposed to be at a rehabilitation facility in Owensboro on Jan. 6. The person said Schwartz is a traveling welder and convicted felon who was released from prison due to COVID-19, per the affidavit from a special agent with the FBI. (snip) FBI agents identified Schwartz in an Action 8 News video of the riot that was posted Jan. 7 on YouTube and showed the Kentucky man on the West Terrace of the Capitol building wearing a "distinctive yellow-and-blue checked shirt or jacket," according to the affidavit.

Schwartz was arrested on February 4, 2021, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania...

Law & Crime

A Capitol siege suspect who was arrested on Thursday in Pennsylvania posted on social media the day after he sprayed police officers with a “chemical irritant,” declaring “we are now at war” whether “people will acknowledge it or not,” the FBI alleged in a criminal complaint. The feds corroborated Peter Schwartz’s identity, in part, by going to his Facebook and noticing a quote: “God created all mankind. Samuel Colt made them equal. Samuel Colt and I share a birthday.” You may recognize Samuel Colt as the inventor of the revolver bearing his last name. Federal authorities said they looked up Colt’s birthday and found that it was July 19. This, it turns out, is Schwartz’s birthday. When perusing the suspect’s Facebook page, the FBI said it found a post on the account admitting that Schwartz was at the Capitol. The post began by justifying the Jan. 6 events by directing attention to “terrorism” and “violence from the left”: The Facebook profile also included a January 7, 2021, post that appeared to have been made by SCHWARTZ stating, “All the violence from the left was terrorism. What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war. It would be wise to be ready!” No videos or images accompanied the post. Your affiant also saw in the comments written by Pete SCHWARTZ, under the January 7, 2021 post, “I’ll tell you this…I’m shocked reading the reports of what happened yesterday. Very different than what I saw up close and personal. (We’re still spitting up gas and mace today.).”

x #SeditionHunters - #GreenPlaidLady finally arrested, Shelly Stallings of KY. On Jan 6 she was with #PlaidBearSpray, Peter Schwartz of KY (the felon on probation who skipped drug rehab for DC). It's not going to be a complicated case (video h/t @MThymol) 1/pic.twitter.com/uIhbpf3POf — capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) February 16, 2022

identifying individuals who participated in unlawful conduct during the Capitol Insurrection. New images are added frequently... The FBI continues to seek the public’s assistance inwho participated in unlawful conduct during the Capitol Insurrection. New images are added frequently...

x The #FBI is still seeking information regarding people who committed violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Visit https://t.co/AWQVD3Hx3Y to see photos and videos from current cases, and if you recognize someone, submit a tip at https://t.co/t8G7LO4hxu. pic.twitter.com/zxJuYvr8zD — FBI Washington Field (@FBIWFO) August 18, 2021

If you have information about individuals who participated in the largest assault on police officers in U.S. history at the Capitol Riot on January 6th, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-‪800-225-5324) or leave a tip online at the FBI’s website .

If you just can’t get enough information about the terrorists who tried to usurp our democracy, then these links are for you…

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/6/2167837/-Insurrectionist-Peter-J-Schwartz-aka-bearsprayman-Gets-The-Longest-Prison-Sentence-Yet-170-Months

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