Kasper pleads guilty to Jan. 6 crimes

A Pulaski man charged with pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S Capitol.

Riley D. Kasper, 24, faces maximum penalties of up to eight years in prison if the offense involved physical contact with the assault victim.

Kasper was at the Capitol when a vast number of persons were attempting to disrupt a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to certify the electoral votes cast in the 2020 presidential election.

Authorities gathered evidence against Kasper after obtaining a search for his Facebook account.

Kasper was arrested in Ashland in March 2022.

According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, at approximately 1:50 p.m., Kasper sprayed an aerosol canister of what is believed to be pepper spray toward law enforcement officers attempting to secure the Capitol building and grounds.

Kasper also was communicated on social media with a person identified by initials N.L. stating, “I pepper sprayed 3 cops so bad they got undressed and went home,” and “As you can see in that video, it was my group that busted the first gate and kept chasing the cops down and pushing them back at the capitol.”

Kasper communicated on social media the following day with another person identified by initials, S.B., stating, “You charge that line and start spraying they start running for cover like you’re coming at them with an ak” and “there is definitely something satisfying about pepper spraying cops in riot gear …”

N.L. replied (edited for profanity), “That’s nuts you were right there when they pushed that fence back lol,” Kasper responded, “F—k yeah bro! I didnMt [sic] drive 14 hours for nothing.”

Other private messages Kasper sent on Jan. 6 included:

“We got inside the capital then they started shooting rubber bullets at peoples (sic) heads, even when me and another guy were carrying a barely conciliatory dude with blood dripping off his knees from his head to the ambulance they kept shooting at the back of the 3 of us.”

“I basically organized my own little militia and we f—-king took over Congress”

Kasper’s sentencing date and custody status were unavailable Sept. 15.

His case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin assisted the prosecutors.

To date, more than 1,100 people from nearly all 50 states have been charged for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 398 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.