Jan. 6 Defendant Cleared by Trump Charged With Kidnapping and Sexual Assault

A man who was arrested on suspicion of firing a gun during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in Utah.

John Banuelos, 40, was among the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the 2021 attack whom Donald Trump pardoned, commuted, or dismissed on his first day back in the White House.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois announced on Nov. 7 that Banuelos has now been arrested on suspicion of separate charges unrelated to the Capitol riot.

Mugshot of John Banuelos. — John Banuelos was booked into a Cook County, Illinois, jail following his arrest. Cook County Sheriff’s Department

According to court records seen by the Associated Press, a woman accuses Banuelos of drugging and sexually assaulting her in June 2018 after approaching her at a train station and taking her to a party at his home.

The woman also alleged that Banuelos strangled her, struck her in the face, and threatened to kill her during the assault.

“The victim recounted that the day she met the defendant was the first day she had experienced homelessness, and she was scared and vulnerable,” a police report said.

Authorities in Salt Lake City issued a warrant for Banuelos’s arrest after DNA evidence linked him to the assault. Officers detained him on Oct. 17 after receiving reports that a man matching his description was entering a fast-food restaurant in South Cicero, Illinois. Banuelos has been arrested more than two dozen times for various offenses in Illinois and Utah.

In March 2024, he was also arrested on suspicion of climbing scaffolding outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot and firing two shots into the air.

Banuelos even predicted that Trump would one day pardon him during a court hearing in Washington, D.C., in May 2024.

John Banuelos, in a yellow oblong, during the Jan.6 Capitol riot. — John Banuelos pictured during the Jan.6 attack in 2021. FBI

“Well, President Trump’s going to be in office six months from now, so I’m not worried about it,” he said at a May 2024 arraignment hearing, according to a transcript.

The Jan. 6 charges against Banuelos were wiped away by Trump’s clemency move.

The 40-year-old is the latest Jan. 6 defendant to be arrested on new charges after being pardoned or granted clemency by Trump.

Christopher Moynihan, 34, who received a 21-month sentence for his role in the riot, was arrested in October on suspicion of texting threats to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In July, Jan.6 rioter Edward Kelley, 36, was also sentenced to life for plotting to murder FBI agents.

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