Maryland man who worked for HHS on Jan. 6 convicted of assaulting police, acquitted of weapons charges

WASHINGTON — A Maryland man who was working for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Jan. 6 was convicted last week of assaulting police during the Capitol riot, but acquitted of multiple weapons-related charges.

Adam Ryan Obest, of Thurmont, was arrested in June 2023 after a confidential human source identified him to federal investigators as a man pictured in wanted images publicized by the FBI. He was indicted two months later on eight counts, including four felony counts alleging he wielded a flagpole as a weapon on Jan. 6.

In charging documents, investigators said Obest can be seen in body worn camera footage from Jan. 6 engaging a line of police at the Capitol with a flagpole and then attempting to disarm an officer of their baton. A source told the FBI that a man resembling Obest had also engaged in a verbal altercation with counter-protesters during the Nov. 14, 2020, Million MAGA March in D.C. During the altercation, the man took off his shirt and revealed two tattoos – an American flag on his left shoulder and the word “OBEST” on his right – that Obest also has.

Obest appeared before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta late last month for a bench trial. On Friday, Mehta convicted Obest on two felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police and four misdemeanors – but acquitted him of two additional counts of assaulting police, including one for assaulting police with a dangerous weapon. Mehta also found the government had failed to prove the dangerous weapon element for three other felony counts and convicted Obest of lesser misdemeanor versions of the charges instead.

Mehta allowed Obest to remain on release while he awaits sentencing on Dec. 13. Capitol riot defendants convicted of assaulting police have commonly received sentences ranging from 18 months to upwards of seven years in prison, depending upon the severity of the assault. Last month, Raymund Cholod, of Tampa, Florida, was sentenced to more than three years in prison as part of a plea deal to a single count of assaulting police for throwing a long, solid stick toward a line of officers.

 In the 43 months since the attack on the U.S. Capitol, nearly 1,500 people have been charged, including nearly 550 charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police.