WASHINGTON: A man who stormed the US Capitol while sporting face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns was moved to a jail in Virginia on Thursday after a federal judge ordered authorities to provide him with organic food while he’s in custody.
Jacob Chansley was transferred to the Alexandria Detention Center after his attorney argued that his client had gone nine days without eating because organic food wasn’t served at the jail in Washington. A judge ordered corrections officials to provide the special diet.
Chansley lost 20 pounds since being transferred from Arizona to Washington last week, his attorney, Albert Watkins, told the judge. Chansley, who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman,” considers eating organic food to be part of his “shamanic belief system and way of life,” the lawyer said.
On Thursday, US District Judge Royce Lamberth said the US Marshals Service told the court that the District of Columbia Department of Corrections had asked for Chansley to be moved because they couldn’t honor the court’s order to feed him organic food.
The judge said jail officials in nearby Alexandria could accommodate the special diet.
Chansley was indicted on civil disorder, obstruction, disorderly conduct and other charges for his role in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was among a group of hundreds of pro-Trump supporters who charged past outnumbered police officers and stormed the Capitol as Congress was meeting to vote to certify Joe Biden’s electoral win.
Chansley told investigators he came to the Capitol “at the request of the president that all ‘patriots’ come to D.C. on January 6,” according to court records.
The FBI identified Chansley from images taken during the riot that showed his distinctive tattoos. Chansley was inside the Capitol and on the Senate dais as he carried a US flag on a pole topped with a spear. Authorities said he also wrote a threatening note to then-Vice President Mike Pence.