Feds make plea offer to Crawford County suspect in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

The federal government has extended a plea offer to a Crawford County man charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The plea offer came to light during a brief telephone status conference call Monday with Judge Rudolph Contreras of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of Jeremy Vorous of Venango.

Vorous, 44, was indicted in March 2021 with a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding; two misdemeanor counts of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; and two misdemeanor counts of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James D. Peterson, who is prosecuting the case, told the court the plea offer only recently had been extended. Peterson did not elaborate on details of the offer.

Related:

• Feds: Crawford County man called police 'cowards,' stormed U.S. Capitol during riots
• Who are the Western Pa. residents charged in Capitol insurrection?

Both Peterson and Elizabeth A. Mullin, Vorous’ new federal public defender, declined to comment on the contents of the plea offer when contacted following the hearing.

In outlining the facts in case for the felony obstructing an official proceeding, Peterson said Vorous had a “series of confrontations with law enforcement both outside and inside the Capitol.”

Vorous went inside the Capitol on two occasions that day, Peterson said.

“He was forcibly expelled and when he was expelled he threw a sign toward law enforcement,” Peterson said. “He engaged in other contact, other threatening contact both inside and outside the Capitol.”

The court did grant Mullin’s request to hold another status conference on the case Aug. 26 to give Mullin time to review the plea offer with Vorous.

Vorous remains free on his own recognizance.