By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A security officer who worked as a contractor for the U.S. State Department was arrested on federal charges on Tuesday in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, an arrest warrant showed.
Kevin Michael Alstrup was arrested in Washington on charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building, according to the warrant.
The warrant was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. No lawyers for Alstrup were listed in court documents.
The development was reported first by the New York Times. A State Department spokesperson told the newspaper that "the individual was a third-party contractor providing uniformed officer services for the State Department."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation found that Alstrup "was employed" by the State Department as a diplomatic security officer, according to the New York Times.
The 2021 Capitol attack came from supporters of Republican former President Donald Trump in a failed bid to prevent the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to now Democratic President Joe Biden. The attack followed weeks of false claims by Trump that he had won the 2020 election.
Trump pleaded not guilty on Aug. 3, 2023, to charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith in federal court in Washington concerning his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Biden.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol assault. Of those, more than 600 have pleaded guilty and over 100 have been convicted at trial.