Man arrested in Portland in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot

Published 1:20 pm Thursday, July 27, 2023

A 36-year-old Washington man was arrested in Portland this week on federal charges of civil disorder, accused of pushing against a police line to force his way into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Benjamin John Silva of Yacolt made his first appearance in federal court in Portland on Tuesday afternoon. He’s also accused of entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct, engaging in physical violence and impeding passage through the Capitol grounds.

He was released and ordered to appear via video for a hearing next Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C. He declined to comment on the allegations when reached by phone.

Video footage caught Silva forcefully pushing past police lines at the tunnel entrance of the Capitol building’s Lower West Terrace and placing a hand against an officer’s riot shield, according to a federal affidavit.

The affidavit said “a violent and physical battle for control over the entrance to the Capitol building” continued for more than two hours at this tunnel, where “rioters repeatedly assaulted, threatened, pushed and beat law enforcement officers.”

Silva entered the tunnel while other members of the crowd were yelling, “Push” and “Let’s go,” the affidavit said.

Silva was identified through video, partly because he said his name and home state when someone else asked who he was and where he was from, according to the affidavit.

FBI agents raided Silva’s home with a search warrant in July 2021 and recovered a gray jacket, an American flag-decorated gray-and-black neck gaiter and black Columbia-brand hat that Silva appeared to have worn on Jan. 6, an agent wrote in the affidavit.

A relative of Silva’s told agents that Silva went to the Capitol with a friend, according to the affidavit. Silva told his relative that a lot of people got pushed into areas they may not have wanted to be in.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Kara Anne Sagi was appointed to represent Silva for this week’s hearing in Portland. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Armistead granted Silva’s release and ordered him to appear by video for the hearing next week in Washington, D.C.

Silva is one of more than 1,069 people arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol. Of those, more than 350 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding police.

Two others arrested in Oregon have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the insurrection and await sentencing. A judge convicted another Oregon man of civil disorder after a bench trial in Washington, D.C., last month. One man from Battle Ground, Washington, who was arrested in Molalla, was sentenced last summer.

In another recent case, a former supervisory FBI agent from Texas was arrested in Bend in May, accused of confronting police outside the U.S. Capitol, calling them “Nazis” and encouraging rioters to “kill ’em!” during the insurrection, according to court records.