The #ArizonaMan, Jake Angeli, was among the Trump supporters who mobbed their way illegally into the Capitol building on Wednesday.
Though he identified himself publicly as Angeli, court records show he petitioned to have his name legally changed to Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley in 2005.
Angeli, the man with the fur costume and horns, was seen on the dais of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday. He posed for a photo flexing the muscles of one arm; the other held a spear from which hung a U.S. flag.
He’s also a well-known supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.
He goes by the moniker, “Q Shaman,” and he told the Arizona Republic that he wears the fur bonnet, paints his face and walks around shirtless with ragged pants as a way to attract attention.
Then, he said, he is able to speak to people about his beliefs about QAnon and other truths he says remain hidden.
Angeli said that he discovered much of what he found through his own research on the Internet. That research – which included “Behold a Pale Horse” by the Arizona author William Copper – involved shadowy groups, including the Illuminati, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg group, that control the world.
Poynter reported that in December, Angeli launched an online crowdfunding campaign to fund his participation in pro-Trump events.
The Arizona Republic described him as “a QAnon supporter who has been a fixture at Arizona right-wing political rallies over the past year.”
The Associated Press reported that he was also seen in the same signature headwear at a pro-Trump rally Nov. 7 in Phoenix.
Angeli and Arizona Republican Rep. Gosar were regulars at protests outside the Maricopa County Elections building following November’s election, with Gosar arriving the first night of the protests and demanding to be let in.
His personal Facebook page is filled with images and memes relating to all sorts of extreme ideas and conspiracy theories.
He spoke with a correspondent from the Globe and Mail of Toronto after the break-in, according to a Tweet from that reporter, saying that police had stopped trying to block him and other Trump supporters and let them into the Capitol. After some time, according to the Tweet, Angeli said police politely asked him to leave.
On his trip back from Washington, D.C., he did speak with NBC News, insisting his act was simple disobedience.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Angeli told NBC News. “I walked through an open door, dude.”
He did chalk up the event as a victory.
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker,” he said. “I consider that a win.”
When ABC15 Investigator Melissa Blasius spoke to Angeli’s mother at her Phoenix home Thursday, she said she did not know where her son was, but added, “he’s fine.”
Martha Chansley was unapologetic for her sons actions and claimed he was a navy veteran.
She also questioned if police really wanted her son, why didn’t they arrest him when he was at the U.S. Capitol.
Angeli, according to the statement of facts, called the FBI on his own Thursday, confirmed he was the person who briefly was at the dais of the U.S. Senate, and surrendered to special agents at the Phoenix field office Saturday morning and was taken into custody.
Angeli told the FBI he came to D.C. “as part of a group effort, with other ‘patriots’ from Arizona, at the request of the President that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6, 2021,” the statement of facts reads.
Angeli was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
At his initial appearance in federal court in Phoenix, Angeli requested an organic food accommodation while incarcerated.
According to his service record, Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley enlisted out of Arizona as a supply clerk on Sept. 26, 2005.
After completing recruit training and MOS school he was assigned to the USS Kitty Hawk in March 2006, where he stayed until Sept. 29, 2007, at which point he was transferred to a Transient Personnel Unit in Puget Sound in Washington state.
He was processed out of the Navy on Oct. 11 of that year as a seaman’s apprentice — which means he got out as a boot E-2 with two years and 15 days in uniform.
A Navy official told Task & Purpose Chansley was booted from the service after he refused to take the anthrax vaccine.
Citing privacy regulations, officials declined to provide the characterization of his discharge.
His military record notes that he received the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon — but no personal awards of any kind.
Angeli became one of dozens of people arrested and charged out of the events of that day. As of Jan. 8, there had been 15 people charged federally and 40 others in D.C. Superior Court.
Only one was from the District of Columbia, while 11 were from neighboring Maryland and Virginia. Fifty people were from 18 states, while six of those arrested had no fixed addresses.
Arizonans arrested Wednesday or Thursday were identified as:
• Marsha Murphy, 50. She was accused of a curfew violation and unlawful entry. A man who identified himself as Murphy’s husband, Kevin, said she was in custody on Thursday. He also said the couple no longer lives in Arizona. They moved from Tucson about two years ago to run an ammunition store in Hinton, Oklahoma.
Marsha Murphy is listed as the chief executive of Amer-I-CAN Ammo Enterprises on the company’s website. Her Facebook page, which includes a picture of her in a Trump T-shirt, says she studied at the University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University.
Kevin Murphy said his wife had engaged in a peaceful protest outside the Capitol, but she stayed on the streets after the curfew. He said he learned of her arrest from a Facebook post, and his wife remained in custody.
Kevin Murphy, who retired from the Tucson Police Department in May 2019, said he was disappointed because his wife had promised to return to her hotel after dark. He was concerned for her safety, noting that four people had died during the unrest.
• Joshua Knowles, 31. He was accused of a curfew violation and unlawful entry. Calls to his cellphone were not returned.
Maricopa County Superior Court records show that a man with the same name and age, Joshua D. Knowles, served 1½ years in prison and was fined $9,200 after pleading guilty to a felony drug charge in 2009.
• Timothy Austfjord, 57, accused of a curfew violation. A man from Chandler with the same name and age has an arrest record in Maricopa County.
Those arrested and charged by federal authorities so far have included people whose images were widely seen in newspapers, on television and on social media. These include a Florida man who was seen carrying the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and an Arkansas man who was seen with his feet up on her desk. A West Virginia assemblyman was also arrested Saturday, authorities announced.
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LOCK THESE TREASONOUS BASTARDS UP!
Vic Davy Vietnam Class of 69