According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, Schwartz and his wife Shelly Stallings, who pleaded guilty in August, traveled to Washington D.C. and were at the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building. While at the front of the police line around 2:28 pm, Schwartz threw a folding chair at officers, later claiming to a friend that he “started a riot” by “throwing the first chair.” He then stole MPD duffle bags full of O.C. spray canisters, which he distributed to other members of the mob, including his wife, so that they could deploy them against the police. Wielding a large MK-46 canister and carrying a wooden tire thumper, Schwartz began indiscriminately spraying O.C. spray at any retreating police officers he could find. Around the same time, defendant Maly pushed through the crowd toward a group of police officers trying to escape up onto the inaugural stage and sprayed with his own O.C. canister. Schwartz and Maly then followed officers up into the lower west terrace tunnel, where they were joined by defendant Brown and dozens of other rioters. As the crowd heaved against the makeshift police line, Jeffrey Brown received an O.C. spray canister that was passed from Schwartz to Maly to Brown. Brown tried to use it but couldn’t figure out the nozzle. He passed it back to Schwartz, who appears to have shown Brown how to use it and passed it back. Brown then dove towards the front of the police line, spraying them with yet more OC spray.
Schwartz was arrested on February 4, 2021, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.