PHOENIX — An Arizona man turned himself in Tuesday and was arrested for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
A criminal complaint filed May 14 in a U.S. District Court says Micajah Joel Jackson, 25, of Laveen, is facing the following charges:
- Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority
- Violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds
A statement of facts from the Department of Justice says members of the public contacted the FBI to inform the agency that an individual, later identified as Jackson, had posted videos to his Instagram accounts that appeared to have been taken by someone who breached the U.S. Capitol.
The social media content included photographs of Jackson wearing the same distinctive clothing, including a flannel shirt, USA hat, green cargo pants, yellow gloves and an orange armband, the DOJ said. The social media posts also contained the hashtags #yellowglovesorangearmband and #tartanplaidPB, which, the DOJ said, appear to stand for Proud Boys -- a right-wing militia group.
The DOJ said footage from the insurrection shows Jackson with the Proud Boys from Arizona, who "appear to have adopted the color orange, wearing orange hats, armbands, facemasks, and/or orange duct tape applied to helmets or other items of clothing to identify their affiliation with each other."
On March 24, FBI agents conducted a non-custodial interview with Jackson at his home, according to the DOJ. During the interview, Jackson said he entered and remained inside of the U.S. Capitol and that he did so without permission.
Jackson also said he had traveled alone to Washington D.C. to attend the rally, the DOJ said. And when asked about the orange armband, he said a group of Proud Boys from Arizona gave him the armband, but he did not know and was not associated with the Proud Boys prior to Jan. 6, and does not support their ideology.
On May 12, a social media friend of Jackson's posted a screenshot allegedly written by Jackson which said he was "being politically persecuted for simply being at Jan 6th. While BLM gets away with everything, and while we have open borders and lawlessness all over. #ABOLISHtheFBI #BigTechCensorShip #NovIIIStolen."
The criminal complaint was filed two days later.
Jackson’s father Ward Jackson said, “He’s still a young man in his 20s trying to figure out who he is and what he stands for…that day he viewed himself as one foot in and another as a reporter-observer.”
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