A Colorado youth pastor who was among the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 was arrested Friday on multiple federal charges for his participation in the riot.
The FBI was tipped off about pastor Tyler Ethridge’s participation in the riot by one of his colleagues from Bible college who said he was on social media bragging about it.
The tipster said Ethridge claimed he was “on scaffolding outside Nancy Pelosi’s office and inside the chamber.”
“He was on Facebook telling everyone about it,” the tipster told the FBI, according to the documents.
Ethridge was captured on surveillance video walking through the Capitol Rotunda and toward the Senate chambers around 2:35 pm on Jan. 6. He posted several videos from inside the Capitol on social media. In one video he said Christians should “infiltrate every area of society like this. Every area of society like this. Peacefully. But if it takes a little bit of aggression to barge through the walls that Satan separates us from the culture, it’s time for the body of Christ to infiltrate the culture.”
He also acknowledged that he might lose his job because of what he was doing.
“I’m probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this,” he said. “I think we’re to a point where talk is cheap. If this makes me lose my reputation, I don’t care.”
He kept posting on social media after the riot, including a message to fellow rioters in September 2021 urging them to not be ashamed or fearful.
“We will be vindicated,” he said. “The truth will come out. Don’t be afraid of what they sentence you with. I’m not. I’m ready for whatever I’ll be charged with. America is still primed and ready.”
Ethridge has been charged with civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
