WASHINGTON — An Ohio pastor who wore his company jacket as he pushed against a police line on Jan. 6, 2021, was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday and charged with felony and misdemeanor charges, the Justice Department said.
William Dunfee, 57, a church pastor, is the man seen on video recorded by another Jan. 6 rioter telling officers that the mob was going to take over the U.S. Capitol steps; online sleuths identified him before his arrest this week. Dunfee also told other rioters that they were "taking our house," according to an FBI affidavit.
“This election has been stolen right out from underneath of our noses and it is time for the American people to rise up. Rise up. Rise up. Today is the day in which it is that these elected officials realize that we are no longer playing games," Dunfee told other rioters, according to the affidavit and the video. “We will stand up for our country. We are standing up for our freedoms. We are standing up for our president. And today is the day these elected officials, these senators and these congressmen, understand that we are not going to allow this to continue any longer.”
Dunfee also said elected officials "need to fear us" before he said rioters were "going to our house."
“Mister police officers, we want you to understand something. We want you to understand something. We want Donald Trump and if Donald Trump is not coming, we are taking our house. We are taking our house," Dunfee said.
Dunfee and others then pushed the metal barricade into police officers and broke through, video shows and the FBI affidavit says. Dunfee proceeded with the mob to the eastern steps of the Capitol. He is not charged with entering the building.
“Hallelujah,” Dunfee said when another rioter announced that they had stopped Congress' certification of the election, later telling a crowd, “Mission accomplished.”
Dunfee was easy to identify because of his company jacket. NBC News ran a search for the company after having seen the video this summer and quickly identified him as a business partner at Cross Builders LLC in Ohio. The FBI received numerous tips about Dunfee, including screenshots of comments from members of his church.
The FBI pointed to video on the Facebook page of New Beginnings Ministries Warsaw, where Dunfee is a pastor, in which he talked about his plans before the Jan. 6 attack. "It’s not over. November the 4th through the 6th, we are heading to D.C. Who’s going with us?" Dunfee says in the video. In another video, after the attack, Dunfee complained about how rioters were being portrayed.
“We show up January 6th at the Capitol Building, right? To let it be known that we are not going to stand back and let an election be stolen. That we are going to hold our legislators accountable and so on and so forth? And what did that get us? Huh? We are all deemed what? Huh? Bunch of terrorists, right?” Dunfee said in the video.
“I can tell you, having been there, that we were surrounded by patriots. Many, many, many, many patriots. And I thank God they showed up to just to let it be known that, you know, what the bottom line is this, that you are not stealing this election. You’re not going to rob us, deprive us of a democracy, of a republic, without us being heard.”
Dunfee faces felony charges of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, as well as obstruction of an official proceeding.
