The son of a New York judge who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 while dressed as a caveman has pleaded guilty to three counts during a virtual court hearing.
Aaron Mostofsky, 35, of Brooklyn, is charged with one felony count of civil disorder, one count of theft of government property, and one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building.
In pleading guilty, a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding was dropped against him. That could have led to the longest potential prison sentence of all the charges against him.
However, Mostofsky pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with a law enforcement officer during the commission of a civil disorder. That comes with a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
US District Judge James Boasberg accepted Mostofsky’s guilty plea and set a sentencing hearing for May.
Mostofsky’s father is Judge Steven Mostofsky of the Kings County Supreme Court in New York.
According to the statement of offence, the younger Mostofsky was dressed as a caveman during the Capitol riot because, as he told a friend, “the fraud in the 2020 Presidential election was so obvious, even a caveman would know the election was stolen”.
Further details from the nine-page document include that Mostofsky pushed against police lines, joining a group who were resisting police — his actions were voluntary and he was not there by mistake or by accident.
At 2.13pm that day, rioters broke windows and entered the Capitol Building by the Senate Wing Door. Mostofsky was approximately the twelfth person to enter this way.
Picking up a Capitol Police riot shield discarded by another rioter, he then followed the crowd to a staircase where they pursued Officer Eugene Goodman outside the Senate Chamber.
During this time Mostofsky stopped to be interviewed by a reporter from The New York Post to whom he said that he believed the election was stolen and various states including New York were “stolen” from then-President Donald Trump.
Mostofsky did not remain in the building for very long, and exited at approximately 2.36pm at which point he was stripped of the riot shield by a Capitol Police officer.
