Funeral home owner pleads guilty to assaulting police and…

WASHINGTON — A Long Island funeral home owner pleaded guilty Thursday to spraying wasp killer at police officers and assaulting two journalists, including an Associated Press photographer, during a riot at the state Capitol -United almost four years ago.

Peter Moloney, 60, of Bayport, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. Moloney responded to the judge’s routine questions by pleading guilty to two assault charges stemming from the siege of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Defense lawyer Edward Heilig said his client took “full responsibility” for his conduct on January 6.

“He deeply regrets his actions that day,” Heilig said after the hearing.

Moloney appeared to have come to the Capitol “prepared for violence,” equipped with goggles, a helmet and a can of insecticide, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. The video shows him spraying insecticide at police officers, the agent wrote.

The video also showed Peter Moloney participating in an attack on an AP photographer who was documenting the Capitol riot. Moloney grabbed the AP photographer’s camera and fired, causing the photographer to trip down the stairs, the affidavit states. Moloney was then seen “punching and shoving” the photographer before other rioters pushed him over a wall, the officer wrote.

Moloney also approached another reporter, grabbed his camera and yanked it, causing the reporter to trip down the stairs and damage his camera, according to a court filing accompanying the Moloney’s plea agreement.

Moloney pleaded guilty to a charge of felonious assault, which carries a maximum prison sentence of eight years, for spraying wasp killer on four Metropolitan Police officers. For assaulting the journalist whose camera was damaged, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. He also admitted to assaulting the AP photographer.

Moloney, co-owner of Moloney Family Funeral Homes, was arrested in June 2023. His brother and co-owner, Dan Moloney, said in a statement after his brother’s arrest that “alleged actions taken by an individual on their own time are in no way reflects the core values” of their company, “which is dedicated to earning and maintaining the trust of all community members of all races, religions and nationalities.”

Heilig said Peter Moloney has since left the family business.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the January 6 attacks. More than 950 of them have pleaded guilty. More than 200 others were convicted by judges or juries after trials.

Also Thursday, a Wisconsin man pleaded guilty to defying a court order to report to prison to serve a three-month sentence for joining the Capitol riot. Instead, Paul Kovacik fled to Ireland and requested asylum, authorities said.

Kovacik was arrested in June after he voluntarily returned to the United States from Ireland. He will remain in custody until a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 10 by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton. His conviction on this new misdemeanor charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

Kovacik told authorities he withdrew his asylum application and returned to the United States because he was homesick, according to an affidavit from a U.S. Marshals Service deputy. Kovacik called himself a “political prisoner” when investigators questioned him after he arrived at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, according to the congressman’s affidavit.

On Thursday, Kovacik said he fled because he was afraid of going to prison.

“I should never have taken off,” he told the judge. “That was very stupid of me.”

Kovacik took videos of the damage caused by rioters as he marched through the Capitol on January 6. He then uploaded his footage to his YouTube channel, with titles such as “Treason against the United States is about to be committed,” according to prosecutors.