Tennessee Man Charged With Federal Crimes In Confrontation With Law Enforcement at U.S. Capitol

            WASHINGTON – Larry Russell Dawson, 66, of Antioch, Tenn., was charged today with two federal offenses stemming from a confrontation with law enforcement while he was being screened on Monday, March 28, 2016 at the United States Capitol Visitor Center, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Matthew R. Verderosa, Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.

            Dawson was charged in a criminal complaint with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees with a dangerous weapon, which carries a statutory maximum of 25 years in prison, and assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon, which carries a statutory maximum of 30 years.  He is to appear at a later date, yet to be determined, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

            This case is being investigated by the U.S. Capitol Police with assistance from the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mudd and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Charles of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

            A criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws.  Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.