An Indiana man has been arrested for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol breach, where he is accused of assaulting law enforcement and other related offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported. Nicholas Scott Ingram Hofer, 34 years old, from Carbon, Indiana, faces felony charges, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and civil disorder. His arrest adds him to the list of over 1,488 individuals already charged with crimes relating to the riot.
Hofer voluntarily appeared at the Federal Courthouse in Indianapolis, as stated in the criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia. He's also charged with several misdemeanors, such as entering and remaining in a restricted building and engaging in violence there. According to the same court documents, Hofer was among the crowd that broke through a police line and surged up the Capitol stairs—allegedly pushing against officers with a bike rack barricade. His actions contributed to the day's chaos that disrupted the Congressional session meant to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
The documented evidence suggested that Hofer was involved in numerous confrontational encounters with law enforcement within the Capitol, including attempting to wrest a riot shield from an officer's hands and re-entering the building despite police efforts to secure it, a narrative pieced together from video footage, and police records details his presence inside the Capitol for approximately 38 minutes.
Federal agencies, including the FBI's Indianapolis and Washington Field Offices, led the investigation with crucial support from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Services in the ongoing inquiry, which has seen nearly 550 individuals charged with felony assault of law enforcement to date. The Justice Department urges anyone with additional information to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov, acknowledging that all defendants, including Hofer, are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
