Four more Oath Keepers associates indicted in Capitol insurrection

Four more Oath Keepers associates have been indicted and three were arrested in Florida in recent days in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, bringing the number of co-defendants charged in the largest conspiracy case from that day to 16, court records show.

Joseph Hackett, 51, of Sarasota, Fla., Jason Dolan, 44, of Wellington, Fla., and William Isaacs, 21, of Kissimmee, Fla., each face multiple counts in an indictment handed up Wednesday and unsealed Sunday in Washington. The three appeared Thursday before U.S. magistrates in Tampa, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

The name of a fourth defendant not known to be in custody was redacted.

Attorneys for Dolan and Isaacs did not respond Sunday to requests for comment. No attorney for Hackett was listed. Hackett, a chiropractor who attended previous Oath Keepers events and a Florida firearms training school, was in federal custody as of Friday evening, online records show. Isaacs was released. The detention status of Dolan, whose LinkedIn profile says he is a resort security officer and former Marine who served more than 17 years including as a platoon sergeant in Iraq and recruiter in Massachusetts, was unclear.

U.S. prosecutors have criminally charged at least 19 alleged Oath Keepers or associates in the Capitol riots, including Jon Ryan Schaffer, an Indiana rock musician who is the only defendant known to have pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors say the Oath Keepers, a loose network of groups founded in 2009 that includes some self-styled citizen militias, target law enforcement and military members for recruitment with an apocalyptic vision of the U.S. government careening toward totalitarianism. Its members have provided security to some conservative politicians and causes in recent years.

The four new defendants are charged with conspiring to obstruct Congress’s confirmation of the 2020 presidential election in joint session on Jan. 6. They are accused of forcing entry through the Capitol’s East Rotunda doors after marching single-file up the steps wearing camouflaged combat uniforms, tactical vests with plates, helmets, eye protection and Oath Keepers insignia.

Prosecutors alleged members of the group were in contact with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes - usually identified as “Person One” by the government in court documents - and organized by charged co-defendants, including Ohio militia founder and bar owner Jessica Watkins, 38; former Navy intelligence officer Thomas E. Caldwell, 65, of Berryville, Va.; and Florida car dealer Kelly Meggs, 52.

Rhodes has not been charged and is not accused of wrongdoing. He has accused prosecutors of trying to manufacture a nonexistent conspiracy.

“I may go to jail soon, not for anything I actually did, but for made-up crimes,” Rhodes told Texas Republicans at a March rally in Laredo. He urged supporters of former president Donald Trump to “not cower in fear” and claimed the federal government “was trying to get rid of us so they can get to you.”

The other 12 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty.

In interviews with The Washington Post, Rhodes has disputed previous government allegations regarding his posts to an encrypted Signal group that included regional Oath Keepers leaders from several states at the scene, calling them an effort to call members together outside the Capitol to “keep them out of trouble.”

The latest indictment continues to add new details that reverse that chronology, alleging that Rhodes began discussing plans to keep Trump in the White House by force as early as last Nov. 9, and exchanging dozens of encrypted messages, phone calls and other communications with the Watkins-Caldwell-Meggs group before and during the riots.

On an online GoToMeeting conference that day - six days after the election - Rhodes allegedly told those in attendance, including Hackett, Meggs and Watkins, “We’re going to defend the president, the duly elected president, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country. Because if you don’t, guys, you’re going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war and a bloody - you can call it an insurrection or you can call it a war or fight.”

“I’m willing to sacrifice myself for that,” Rhodes allegedly also told followers. “Let the fight start there. That will give President Trump what he needs, frankly. . . . We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia.”

The unsealed superseding indictment alleges that as early as Jan. 3, Hackett, Dolan and Isaacs joined Watkins, Meggs and others on an encrypted Signal message group titled “OK FL DC OP Jan 6,” with Meggs adding previously charged Kenneth Harrelson as “Ground Team lead in Florida.”

Harrelson and Dolan allegedly traveled to Washington and entered restricted Capitol grounds together.

The indictment accuses Isaacs of pushing against the Capitol doors at 2:39 p.m., then entering after the mob breached the doors, moving with the larger Oath Keepers group - led by Watkins and including Hackett and Dolan - through the Rotunda and into the Senate wing, before collectively exiting between 2:54 and 3:05 p.m.

Government charging papers allege Rhodes, his deputy and three charged co-defendants seen guarding Trump confidant Roger Stone on Jan. 5 and 6 exchanged nearly 20 phone calls over three hours on Jan. 6, coinciding with the first assault on police barricades and spanning the time the three defendants breached the building.

Online photos and videos cited by the government in Harrelson court filings corroborate public video showing that Dolan also guarded Stone as he left a pro-Trump rally outside the Supreme Court on Jan. 5.

Although some charged Oath Keepers were seen acting as bodyguards for Stone earlier in the day and were photographed with him in December, Stone has consistently said he was not involved in the riot and did not have advance knowledge of illegal acts at the Capitol. Stone has not been accused of wrongdoing.