Judge denies traveling to Abu Dhabi over convicted Capitol thug

WASHINGTON — A congressional rioter awaiting multiple felony charges will not be allowed to travel to the United Arab Emirates, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Tristan Chandler Stevens, Florida, filed a motion last week asking permission to travel to Abu Dhabi to spend December 1-31 with friends in the Persian Gulf country. The motion states that Stevens has been in full compliance with the conditions of his release since February 2021, and the court previously granted his motion to remove GPS monitoring.

Stevens, a 25-year-old computer engineering student at the University of West Florida on Jan. 6, was convicted in September of one felony count of civil disturbance and four felony counts of assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer. before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden. During the trial, prosecutors showed video of Stevens taking part in a prolonged attack on officers in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on Jan. 6, using riot shields to try to force the ranks back. U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, one of many police officers who testified during the trial, said Stevens cornered him against a door frame with a stolen riot shield.

Prosecutors also showed another video of Stevens on the Capitol grounds before reaching the tunnel, in which he appeared to attempt to provoke and threaten officers.

“Do you know what happens to traitors?” Stevens’ voice was heard in the footage of a Washington, D.C. police officer’s body camera. “They were tied to poles and shot. Are you ready?

On Monday, McFadden denied Stevens’ short-term travel request without any further explanation. McFadden previously allowed another defendant, Texas florist Jenny Cudd, to travel abroad Weekend Getaways in the Mexican Riviera Maya, while she awaits trial. Cudd, who pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one Class “A” misdemeanor of entering and remaining on a restricted building or premises, has never been charged with a violent crime and faces only Two misdemeanor charges.

Stevens is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13 and could face years in prison. Other thugs convicted of beating police get four years, Take North Texas Patriots Boys Founder Lucas Dennyto 10 years in prison, Take former NYPD officer Thomas Webster, for example.

Two of Stevens’ co-defendants, Patrick McCoy III and David Mehafi, were also convicted in the bench trial and are scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27, respectively. The other three defendants – Geoffrey Sills, Robert Morss and David Lee Judd – went through a brief provisional court trial in August is convicted. The remaining three defendants in the case — Christopher Quaglin, Federico Klein and Steven Capuccio — plan to begin their own bench before McFadden on April 10, 2023 trial.

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