Jeffrey Sabol, who grew up in Waterville, was arrested and charged last week with the assault of a police officer during the violence in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.
Numerous national media outlets reported the story over the weekend of Sabol, 51, being seen on videos taken Jan. 6 dragging a police officer down the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The officer was then beaten by a different man with a flag pole containing the U.S. flag.
Sabol, a 1987 graduate of Waterville Central School, lives in Colorado, where he works as a geophysicist whose job, prosecutors said, is to assist the military. After turning himself in, Sabol was arrested in Westchester County, where he is being held without bail.
A statement Friday morning from William Sweeney Jr., of the New York FBI office, said, “Earlier this morning we took Jeffrey Sabol into custody for his role in the riot and assault on the Capitol building. We will continue to support our colleagues from our Washington Field Office in bringing all those from our area who participated to justice.’’
Prosecutors said in court Friday that Sabol purchased a plane ticket to Zurich, Switzerland. They also said he attempted suicide in the days following the incident and was briefly hospitalized before being admitted to a psychiatric center.
At Friday's hearing, defense….