A Kansas man and his brother were both arrested on Friday on multiple federal charges related to their alleged involvement in the riot at the US Capitol last month.
William Pope, of Topeka, was arrested without incident by the FBI and Topeka police officers and held without bond in Shawnee County Jail.
He acknowledged his involvement in the riot and claimed he had not been violent, but added that he later reported to the FBI because “it was the right choice.”
“I was in the Capitol to exercise my First Amendment rights and remain loyal to the United States of America,” Pope said, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. “The best way to restore the fabric of our society is to maintain people’s trust in their government institutions.”
William Pope, of Topeka, was booked Friday to Shawnee County Jail in Topeka, Kan. (Shawnee County Department of Corrections via AP)
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Pope, 35, was a candidate for Topeka City Council last year, and as of October 2020, he was listed as a member of the Republican District Commission in Shawnee County. He also worked briefly as an entry-level auditor for the Legislative Division of Post Audit, the state’s official audit firm until 2019.
Pope was also an adjunct instructor at Fort Hays State University from January 2016 to May 2020. And he was listed as a doctoral student in the Kansas State University Department of Communication Studies starting Friday.
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Kansas State spokeswoman Michelle Geering said the university is conducting an internal review and will not comment on future personnel actions.
Fort Hays State University spokesman Scott Cason said the school was not aware of any case where the Pope’s political views had been incorporated into its teaching, Cason said.
He was charged with civil disorder; entering and staying in a limited building or site; obstruction or impediment to an official procedure; disorderly and disruptive behavior in a confined building or site; obstructing passage through the Capitol buildings; disorderly behavior in a Capitol; and paraded, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol, the FBI said according to the Capital-Journal.
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His brother, Michael Pope, of Sandpoint, Idaho, was also arrested Friday and charged with the same crimes, the paper reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.