Meadville resident dubbed 'JackTheTripper' pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riots

• FBI charged Mikhail E. Slye with using bike rack to intentionally trip U.S. Capitol Police officer during riots at Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
• Slye pleaded guilty to a felony count in federal court in Washington, D.C.
• He faces up to eight years in federal prison, though guidelines recommend up to five years and three months

A website that tracks images from the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, labeled Meadville resident Mikhail E. Slye as "JackTheTripper."

Slye has admitted to the actions that earned him the moniker.

He pleaded guilty to using a bike rack to intentionally trip a U.S. Capitol Police officer during the breach of the Capitol.

Slye entered the plea on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a news release.

Slye faces a maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison at his sentencing on April 3 before U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg, who accepted the plea. Slye is free on a promise to appear at his court proceedings.

The federal sentencing guidelines, which take into account a defendant's guilty plea and other factors, call for a recommended sentence for Slye of four years and three months to five years and three months, according to the plea agreement filed in the case on Tuesday.

Rioter admits to calling police 'Nazis'

The FBI on Sept. 30 arrested Slye, then 32, in Meadville. He was charged with the assault count as well as the felony of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, and six misdemeanors. The government dropped all but the assault charge as part of the plea agreement.

As part of the deal, Slye agreed to cooperate with investigators. He will allow "law enforcement agents to review any social media accounts" he operated to look for statements or posts related to the storming of the Capitol, according to the plea agreement.

The officer whom Slye tripped was with other officers who were attempting to rescue another officer caught in the crowd on the north side of the Capitol, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said. The officer fell down the stairs and suffered injuries to his hand, wrist and lower body.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Slye illegally entered the Capitol twice — once, at 2:56 p.m., remaining for 3 minutes, and again at 3:05 p.m, exiting at 3:35. p.m. While in the Capitol, he moved throughout the Crypt area and other locations, the government said.

Minutes after he tripped the officer, Slye shouted at the other officers, saying "this is our country" and calling the officers "traitor," "Nazis" and an expletive, according to a statement of the case the U.S. Attorney's Office filed with the plea deal. The statement — which Slye accepted as part of the plea deal — also said Slye spat at the officers as they were spraying him and other rioters with chemical spray and a fire extinguisher.

Rioter caught on video; website tracked images

The evidence against Slye included surveillance video and videos posted on the internet, according to the criminal complaint that was unsealed following his arrest. The FBI in the complaint cited a website called seditionhunters.org, which posts videos and photographs of the riots to to provide information on suspects.

Seditionhunters.org dubbed an unknown subject "JackTheTripper" — the person the FBI ultimately identified as Slye, according to the complaint.

The FBI in the criminal complaint referred to a video interview taken of him and several other people outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Twenty-six minutes into the video, Slye says he is at the Capitol "because I am sick of looking at it through a screen. You don't know what the truth is unless you see it in 3D."

Following his arrest, Slye had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Erie because he was arrested in Crawford County, which falls under the Erie federal court's jurisdiction. The case was then transferred to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

One of four defendants charged in northwestern Pa.

Slye is one of four defendants charged in the Capitol riots to have their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Erie because they were arrested in northwestern Pennsylvania. Another defendant, Jeremy Vorous, is from Venango, in northern Crawford County. Two others — Pauline Bauer and William Blauser — are from Kane, in McKean County.

Blauser pleaded guilty on Nov. 15, 2021, to parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol. He was sentenced Feb. 3 to pay a $500 fine and $500 in restitution.

Bauer has a nonjury trial scheduled for Jan. 19. She is accused of forcing her way into the Capitol and demanding that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers be handed over to insurrectionists. She has pleaded not guilty.

A status conference in Vorous' case is scheduled for Jan. 25, according to court records. He is accused of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and obstruction of any official proceeding. He has pleaded not guilty.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia Department prosecuted Slye's case with the Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Assistance came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Pittsburgh-based Western District of Pennsylvania, which includes Erie.

The FBI in Pittsburgh, Erie and Washington, D.C., investigated the case, the government said. The U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. assisted, the government said.

Since Jan, 6, 2021, nearly 900 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 275 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said. More than 70 of the defendants are from Pennsylvania.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.