Blue Springs man will be first from Missouri to go to trial in Capitol riot case

A Blue Springs man who prosecutors allege was caught on video making threatening remarks to police during the Capitol riot is scheduled to go to trial in Washington, D.C., this fall.

The jury trial for John George Todd III will begin on Nov. 14, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled last week. The trial is expected to last up to five days, both parties told the court.

Todd, 33, will be the first Missouri defendant charged in the Capitol riot to go to trial. Two other Missouri residents also are scheduled for trials. Last month, a federal judge set a trial date of Jan. 17 for Lloyd Casimiro Cruz Jr., of Polo, who authorities say originally lied about breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6. And in April, a judge set a Feb. 7 trial date for Nevada locksmith Isaac Yoder, who is accused of wandering through the Capitol dressed as George Washington.

The trials are to take place in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Todd, who was arrested in May and released on his own recognizance, faces four misdemeanor counts related to the Capitol riot. He has pleaded not guilty.

According to court records, the FBI received an anonymous tip in March 2021 from someone who reported “having an interaction” with an unknown male in a Lee’s Summit bar on March 6, 2021. Authorities later confirmed the unknown male was Todd. FBI investigators interviewed the tipster in May 2021. The tipster — identified in an affidavit only as “Individual 1” — said that Todd had displayed a cellphone video that appeared to depict him inside the Capitol building.

“Additionally, Individual 1 stated the video showed Todd III smoking what he claimed to be a marijuana cigarette inside the U.S. Capitol,” the document said.

Todd told Individual 1 that a friend had contacted him several weeks before Jan. 6 “and asked if he wished to ‘wreak havoc’ at the U.S. Capitol,” the affidavit said. “Todd III agreed to participate, and the friend paid for his airline ticket to the Washington, D.C. area, according to Individual 1.”

An FBI investigator met with Individual 1 on Feb. 15, 2022, the document said, and showed Individual 1 a photo of Todd’s driver’s license. Individual 1 confirmed that the man in the photo was the same man who was in the Lee’s Summit bar the year before.

Records obtained through a search warrant issued to Google found that a mobile device associated with three of Todd’s email accounts was in the Capitol building between 2:45 p.m. and 4:24 p.m. on Jan. 6, the document said.

Authorities also tracked Todd’s movements through images and videos captured in and around the Capitol, it said. He was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt with white lettering on the chest that said “Make America Great Again.”

Body-worn camera footage obtained from the Metropolitan Police Department showed Todd yelling at law enforcement authorities, the affidavit said.

“At one point inside the rotunda, while near a law enforcement officer, Todd III yelled, ‘I swear to God, I’ll hip toss your ass into the f------ crowd, mother ------!’” the affidavit said.

The investigator also found video footage “of Todd III being handed an unidentified object, placing the object to his lips, and exhaling white smoke while in the U.S. Capitol building rotunda, which corroborates the observations reported by Individual 1,” the document said.

Todd is charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

To date, 23 Missouri residents have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, for offenses ranging from demonstrating in a Capitol building to threatening or assaulting officers. Fourteen have pleaded guilty, and 10 of those have been sentenced.