Kentucky woman used pepper spray on officers during Jan. 6 Capitol riot, feds say

Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal
·3 min read

Over a year after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the FBI's Louisville office announced Wednesday the arrest of a Kentucky woman in connection with the insurrection.

Shelly Stallings, 42, of Morganfield, was arrested Wednesday in Owensboro and charged with the following offenses "in connection with the violence at the U.S. Capitol" on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., according to the FBI:

  • Assault, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon

  • Entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon

  • Disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon

  • Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon

  • Disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds/buildings

  • Civil disorder

It was not immediately clear whether Stallings had an attorney who could comment on her behalf. The Department of Justice said she made her initial court appearance Wednesday in the Western District of Kentucky, and the case will otherwise proceed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

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According to federal prosecutors, Stallings and Markus Maly, 47, of Fincastle, Virginia, were named as additional defendants in a superseding indictment that previously included Stallings' husband, Peter Schwartz, and a Santa Ana, California man, Jeffrey Brown.

Maly was arrested last month, according to the Department of Justice, while Schwartz and Brown, 55, were arrested last year.

"All four defendants are accused of spraying a chemical irritant, pepper spray, at a line of police officers attempting to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building," the Department of Justice said in a Wednesday news release. "Maly, Schwartz and Brown previously pleaded not guilty to charges."

Schwartz, 48, was arrested last February and accused of spraying mace at police officers at the Capitol.

A tipster had told the FBI that Schwartz, a traveling welder and convicted felon, was supposed to be at a rehabilitation facility on Owensboro on Jan. 6. His case is pending in federal court.

The case against Stallings 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, with the DOJ crediting the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky with providing "valuable assistance."

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Stallings is the 18th Kentuckian to be charged in connection with the deadly riot that occurred when a mob assaulted police officers and breached the Capitol while members of Congress sheltered inside from violence that disrupted their certification of President Joe Biden's victory over Trump in the 2020 election.

Federal prosecutors have charged over 750 people from nearly every state with various offenses, with some receiving jail time or probation to date. A congressional committee investigation into the attack is also ongoing.

Five people died during or immediately after the mob's attack, which Sen. Mitch McConnell said was "fed lies" and provoked by Trump. About 140 officers were injured, and at least four law enforcement personnel who defended the building later died by suicide.

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McConnell, the longtime Republican leader from Kentucky, had also accused Democrats last month of trying to "exploit this anniversary" of Jan. 6, but earlier this month, he criticized the Republican National Committee for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and for suggesting the Jan. 6 insurrection was "legitimate political discourse."

Cheney, of Wyoming, and Kingzinger, of Illinois, are the only two Republicans on the House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6. The RNC censured the two earlier in February, saying they engaged in "a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

As for whether more defendants could face charges after 13 months have passed since that January day, the Department of Justice said Wednesday the "investigation remains ongoing."

This story has been updated.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Morganfield, Kentucky woman Shelly Stallings charged in Jan. 6 riot