Pulaski man charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Kasper allegedly sent messages on Facebook that day bragging about his involvement
By: 
Kevin Murphy
Correspondent

A Pulaski man has been charged with assaulting police officers with tear gas and forcibly entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in the nation’s capitol.

Riley D. Kasper, 23, was arrested in Ashland on March 16 and appeared March 17 in federal court in Madison on felony charges including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; engaging in violence in a restricted building; entering a restricted building with a deadly weapon; disorderly conduct involving a deadly weapon; and engaging in physical violence with a deadly weapon.

Convictions on some of the charges have a maximum statutory punishment of 20 years in prison.

U.S. Magistrate Stephen Crocker released Kasper on conditions Thursday including submitting to GPS monitoring. Kasper’s next court appearance was set for March 22 in Washington, D.C.

Authorities gathered evidence against Kasper by obtaining a search warrant of his Facebook account on Nov. 12.

According to an affidavit by an FBI agent filed in court, Kasper sprayed a canister believed to contain pepper spray toward Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers outside the Capitol while members of Congress were inside certifying the electoral votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.

Capitol Police were trying to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while a large crowd gathered outside before pressing their way into the building.

Kasper used his Facebook account that same day to state, “I pepper sprayed 3 cops so bad they got undressed and went home,” and “As you can see in that video, it was my group that busted the first gate and kept chasing the cops down and pushing them back at the capitol.”

On Jan. 6, Kasper used social media to send a private message to “N.L.” saying, “You charge that line and start spraying they start running for cover like you’re coming at them with an ak” and “there is definitely something satisfying about pepper spraying cops in riot gear.”

N.L. replied (edited for profanity), “That’s nuts you were right there when they pushed that fence back lol,” Kasper responded, “F—k yeah bro! I didnMt (sic) drive 14 hours for nothing.”

Other private messages Kasper sent on Jan. 6 included:

“We got inside the capital then they started shooting rubber bullets at peoples heads, even when me and another guy were carrying a barely conciliatory dude with blood dripping off his knees from his head to the ambulance they kept shooting at the back of the 3 of us.”

“I basically organized my own little militia and we f—-king took over Congress”

Kasper messaged S.B. on Jan. 7, ”I woke up at 3am on Tuesday packed up and s—t, drove 18 hours and got to the train station at 5am yesterday and went straight to dressing and on the trump train.

“Then fought cops all day got pepper sprayed more times than I can count, maced, hit with batons, and f—king shot and then kept going until now my only sleep in all of that 48 hours of craziness was I parked at a truck stop from 2am to 4am just now.”

Kasper sent other messages to S.B. about participating in a riot planned for President Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

““Idk you just gotta come next time. It’s pretty exciting. It’s like the most real version of paintball ever. But with pepper spray, flash bangs, and tear gas grenades to throw back at those bitches. And a huge team of people who all got your back. And will beat the cops off of you if they ever get ahold of you.”

The investigation of Kasper began on Jan. 18, 2021, with a tip to the FBI from a confidential source. The FBI obtained screenshots on a Jan. 7 Facebook post by Kasper of the Trump rally in Washington D.C.

A YouTube video shows a man in gray jacket, camouflage facemask and head covering wearing a camouflage backpack at the Capitol. The man is spraying an orange-colored substance from a can marketed as bear repellant.

A second YouTube video showed a person wearing the same clothing which the FBI checked against booking photos from Kasper’s 2015 and 2019 arrests.

The confidential tipster confirmed that the person in the screenshots and YouTube videos was Kasper. The person knew Kasper from high school and were friends on Facebook.

A Kasper family member also confirmed that the person on the YouTube videos was Kasper. Also, financial records obtained during the investigation show fuel purchases on a route from Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. between Jan. 5 and Jan. 7, 2021.

Since the Jan. 6 riot, more than 775 persons have been arrested in nearly all 50 states, including more than 245 persons charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol.

The investigation is ongoing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. Anyone with tips can call 800-225-5324 or visit tips.fbi.gov.