The man photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the raid on the US Capitol was arrested in Florida on Friday night.
The photo of Adam Johnson, which shows him sporting a wide smile as he waved to the camera with one hand and carrying the lectern with the other, quickly became viral in the wake of the mob attack.
The Trump-supporter was booked into jail in Pinellas County around 9pm., and remains there on a U.S. Marshall’s warrant, law enforcement records show.
Johnson is married to a local physician and has five children, a registered voter with no party affiliation, and records show that he voted in the general elections of 2004 and 2020.
“I felt a little disassociated for a minute. It was almost like, it was surreal. I mean it was surreal. I wasn’t surprised, but I was shocked,” Johnson’s acquaintance Allan Mestel said.
“Couldn’t believe it, the fact that I recognize somebody from our hometown, was, I was floored.”
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s Subject Charge Report listed that Johnson tattoos of “God, wings, cross” and that he’s being held “awaiting trial.”
The charges Johnson face is still unclear, but the FBI has been appealing for information on those who entered the Capitol and had arrested 82 people by Friday.
“Just because you left the D.C. region, you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out that you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol,” said assistant director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office Steven D’Antuono.
Johnson’s arrest suggests that authorities will use the myriad photographs and videos of the raid to pursue additional arrests.
“My Office, along with our law enforcement partners at all levels, have been expeditiously working and leveraging every resource to identify, arrest, and begin prosecuting these individuals who took part in the brazen criminal acts at the U.S. Capitol,” said Washington top federal prosecutor Michael Sherwin.