- A high-profile suspect photographed dragging a police officer down stairs during the
Capitol attack has been arrested. - Online internet sleuths had been investigating Logan Barnhart, whom they nicknamed "CatSweat" for months.
- Prosecutors allege that Barnhart was part of a multi-person attack against a police officer outside a tunnel.
More than seven months after a mob of pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol building, authorities have identified and arrested a high-profile suspect who was photographed dragging a police officer down a set of stairs during the siege.
Logan Barnhart, a 40-year-old Michigan bodybuilder, faces multiple charges, including assaulting federal officers with a dangerous weapon, according to the FBI.
HuffPost, which first reported Barnhart's arrest, said Barnhart became a "white whale" for online internet sleuths searching for information on unidentified insurrectionists in the aftermath of the attack. The "Sedition Hunters" community gave Barnhart the nickname "CatSweat" because he is alleged to have worn a Caterpillar brand sweatshirt to the Capitol on January 6.
The FBI had been referring to the suspect, who was wanted for assaulting officers, as Capitol suspect 128-AFO. According to HuffPost, the outlet identified Barnhart months ago thanks to the work of "citizen sleuths," but refrained from publishing his name because of his violent history, which includes rioting charges from his teenage years.
In April, Sedition Hunters discovered video of Barnhart at the Trump rally preceding the Capitol attack that showed him without sunglasses, giving sleuths the opportunity to search publicly available facial recognition materials on the internet. The search yielded multiple images of Barnhart, including photos of him on bodybuilding websites and photography portfolios, according to HuffPost.
Sedition Hunters even uncovered photos of a shirtless Barnhart posing on the cover of multiple romance novels, with names like "Stepbrother UnSEALed: A Bad Boy Military Romance."
-capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) August 17, 2021
But it was Barnhart's Instagram that ultimately led to his arrest. According to HuffPost, Barnhart posted a photo of himself in July 2019 in which he was wearing the same American flag that he would be photographed in at the Capitol on January 6. An August 2020 video on his account featured a similar Caterpillar-branded sweatshirt as well.
Prosecutors allege that Barnhart was part of a multi-person attack against police officers outside a tunnel on the western side of the Capitol. Barnhart on Tuesday was added to a 22-count indictment that names seven people accused of being involved in the attack on a DC Metropolitan officer.
-capitolhunters (@capitolhunters) August 17, 2021
Barnhart did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Ronald Colton McAbee, 27, of Unionville, Tennessee, was also arrested on Tuesday in connection to the
In addition to Barnhart and McAbee, Jeffrey Sabol, Peter Francis Stager, Michael John Lopatic Sr., Clayton Ray Mullins, and Jack Wade Whitton, who were already been arrested, are also named in the indictment.
Prosecutors say Whitton and Sabol dragged the officer down the stairs and into the crowd, where Stager beat him with an American flag pole.