A Georgia man who reportedly is an ex-cop bragged on social media about participating in the violent Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was turned in to authorities by his own former police department.
Authorities say 58-year-old Michael Shane Daughtry — who was described by Pelham Mayor James Eubanks to local station WCTV as a briefly tenured member of the small town’s police force before being fired over social media issues last year — claimed he was “one of the first ones over the fence” when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building earlier this month.
He posted about his participation in the violent mob on Facebook, and told a fellow officer during a recorded phone call that he made it all the way to the door of the Capitol before officers began firing rubber bullets and forced him and other rioters away.
The officer on the phone call alerted the FBI about Daughtry’s involvement in the siege. The FBI launched an investigation on Jan. 7 after the Pelham Police Department provided screenshots of Daughtry’s Facebook page, where he chronicled his plans to travel to Washington to support former president Donald Trump and posted pictures of crowds in restricted areas.
“We’re headed to Washington, D.C. where they’re expecting 4 million people,” he wrote two days before the riot, according to the affidavit. “Looks like we have have to walk 5 about miles … but it’ll be worth it to yell crap at [Nancy] Pelosi and the rest of the idiots that left wing retards voted into office.”
Daughtry was arrested on Jan. 15 and has been charged federally with a violation of entering a restricted building or grounds, which is a misdemeanor.
He appeared in court in Macon, Georgia, on Jan. 15 and was ordered to give up his firearms to the U.S. Marshals Service.
Americus attorney McCall Calhoun also was arrested by the FBI on that day after his own social media posts helped authorities identify him as participant in the mob that stormed the Capitol.
In one Facebook post, Calhoun bragged that he was one of the rioters who broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. He added that Pelosi “probably would have been torn into little pieces, but she was nowhere to be seen.”
Calhoun was arrested Friday at his sister’s Macon home and faces several federal charges, including trespassing in the federal building and disorderly conduct.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Weigle denied Calhoun’s request for bond,
“You crossed a sacred, sacred line. That was an act of extreme violence by every single person who went in there,” Weigle said.
More than 125 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riot as the FBI investigates as many as 400 others.
