CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A Montana native wanted in the deadly U.S. Capitol Riots on January 6 hid out briefly in St. Thomas before eventually absconding to Africa, federal authorities said.
Isaac Steve Sturgeon, 32, of Dillon, Montana, appeared in federal court in New York on Monday on charges related to the Capitol riot after being deported from Kenya and arrested on his return to John F. Kennedy Airport.
Sturgeon, who is charged with seven counts including assaulting police with a metal police barricade, flew to Africa on January 24, one day after paying cash for a one-way ticket after texting others to ask whether he was wanted, prosecutors said in arguing he posed a flight risk.
Sturgeon also traveled from D.C. to Florida and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands immediately after January 6, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said.
He reportedly served as a bodyguard to former President Donald Trump’s longtime political confidant Roger Stone as a member of the Oath Keepers white supremacist militia group.
Sturgeon was deported by Kenyan immigration and police after they were informed he was hiding in Nairobi.
Sturgeon is accused of picking up a metal barricade at the United States Capitol and using it to shove back police officers who were guarding the building.
He then managed to worm his way under barriers to get into the Capitol, according to federal investigators.
After that fun flirtation with domestic terrorism, Sturgeon hopped a plane to Kenya on January 24, with plans to stay there until April.
Unfortunately for him, Kenyan authorities kicked him out at the last Friday following a tip that he was there.
Sturgeon was deported from Nairobi on March 5 and promptly arrested by the FBI, who greeted him at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City the following day.
Sturgeon, who is a landscaper by trade, is now facing charges of obstruction of justice, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and assaulting or resisting officers.
Prosecutors are expected to ask a federal judge to detain him without bond pending trial.