RENSSELAERVILLE — A Rensselaerville man accused of storming the capitol and assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection was arrested earlier this week after federal agents tracked him down with the help of social media.

Troy Weeks, 37, is being charged with six federal crimes for his involvement, according to an arrest warrant filed on Jan. 9 and obtained by The Enterprise. They are: 

— Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; 

— Obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder;

— Entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds;

— Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;

— Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and

— Impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings.

The penalties for the crimes Weeks has been charged with depend on the particulars of each case, such as — to use the first charge as an example — whether physical contact was made or there was intent to commit another felony.

However, the penalty for the least severe instance of most of the offenses is no more than one year in prison or a fine, with the exception of obstruction during civil disorder, which carries the potential for imprisonment of up to five years and/or a fine, according to the United States Code.

The riot

According to a statement of facts written by an unnamed task force officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigations Joint Terrorism Task Force Unit, a man identified as Weeks was among the crowd that invaded the Capitol the afternoon of Jan. 6 as the United States Congress was certifying presidential election results that would make Joe Biden the lawful winner of the election over former President Donald Trump. 

Weeks was captured on video, the report says, pushing against Capitol Police officers and briefly snatching pepper spray from one of the officers through the broken window of a door before the officer grabbed it back. A few seconds later, the statement says, Weeks grabbed at the back of a riot shield held by an officer, and at one point, after being told to move back, told officers that he couldn’t turn around. 

The statement says that Weeks began pleading with officers to let him and the crowd through, apparently to get more room to breathe as the crowd continued to push from behind him. 

“Please! We’re gonna die! Let us through! I can’t breathe! I have asthma,” Weeks is said to have told officers. 

About a minute after that, according to the statement, Weeks was pushed back by officers and then by the crowd, out through the Lower West Terrace tunnel — where The Washington Post says some of the worst violence of the insurrection had occurred — and away from the inside of the Capitol. 

The statement says that Weeks reappeared on video recorded an hour later, outside of the Capitol, telling officers, “Why don’t we have f***ing police protecting the ballots? Why don’t we have this sh*t when we have elections?” 

Investigation

Federal agents identified Weeks after seeing a photograph of him on the Instagram account belonging to a relative of his, and then following up at an address that belonged to him and his workplace, the statement says. 

“​​On or about April 13, 2021,” it says, “law enforcement traveled to the residence in Greenville, New York and spoke to a woman who identified herself as a relative of WEEKS. The woman stated that WEEKS no longer lives at that residence and stated he moved to Rensselaerville, New York.”

Agents also obtained security camera footage from Weeks’s bank that shows him on Jan. 4 2021 wearing the same jacket he is believed to have been wearing at the Capitol, and corroborated this with Weeks’s landlord. 

Weeks did not respond to an Enterprise request for comment, which was left with a woman who answered a phone number associated with his Greenville residence. When told The Enterprise was calling about his activities during the Jan. 6 riot, the woman said, “I don’t have any knowledge of that, but I’ll give him your message.”

The United States Department of Justice reported last week that of the more than 950 defendants arrested in connection with the riot, more than 284 have been arrested for interfering with an officer, as Weeks has. Around 484 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges, and 351 have been sentenced so far.