Geoffrey Shough (via FBI court filings)
An Austin man who became known to online sleuths as “#TexasPleather” has been arrested and charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after his ex-girlfriend identified him to federal investigators just one week after they broke up.
Geoffrey Samuel Shough, 37, has been charged with one felony count and four misdemeanors. Shough was seen on surveillance video shouldering his way to the front of the crowd that overran police guarding the Senate Wing Door.
“The footage shows Shough forcibly entering the U.S. Capitol Building during the second breach of the Senate Wing Door at 2:48 p.m.,” prosecutors say in the statement of facts supporting the criminal complaint against Shough. “Shough was among the first few individuals to breach a line of uniformed Capitol Police Officers who were attempting to prevent the rioters from entering the Capitol. The rioters overwhelmed the officers and entered the U.S. Capitol. Shough then appears to have engaged in an animated conversation with one or more of the Capitol Police Officers before moving further into the U.S. Capitol Building.”
Online sleuths tagged Shough with the nickname #TexasPleather because of the jacket he was pictured wearing.
That jacket is what led Shough’s ex-girlfriend, identified in court documents as L.T., to identify him to federal investigators.
On May 10, 2021, FBI Agents interviewed L.T. by telephone. L.T. stated that she had been dating Shough until the prior week, at which time they broke up. L.T. explained that Shough was visiting friends in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, and had previously expressed an interest in attending the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally while he was in Washington, D.C. L.T. confirmed that Shough had a cognac-colored leather jacket. After the interview, the FBI sent L.T. three images that were captured on January 6, 2021 […]
L.T. replied via email in response to the images, ‘yes, this looks like him.’ [citations omitted]
The FBI’s statement of facts accompanying the criminal complaint also traced Shough’s spending in the Washington, D.C. area around the days of the siege.
In addition to showing charges for a hotel and parking in the area of the capital in the days before and after Jan. 6, Shough’s bank records allegedly show that he made two stops at a Whole Foods in Vienna, Virginia, and dined at the famous Jaleo restaurant on Jan. 5. Jaleo is a Spanish restaurant owned by award-winning chef José Andrés, who memorably decried the actions of the rioters and delivered pizzas and made food for members of the National Guard, D.C. police, and cleanup crews at the Capitol.
Shough’s financial records also show a payment of $129.99 to “Oath Keepers” on Dec. 17, 2020, according to prosecutors, who also noted that there was a “patch or decal on the back of Shough’s helmet that matches the logo from the Oath Keepers website[.]”
Members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government militia group founded by Stewart Rhodes, are accused of storming the Capitol in a military-style “stack” formation. Rhodes himself is charged with seditious conspiracy in the most serious Jan. 6 case to date.
According to the complaint, Shough has been charged with civil disorder, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, along with four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Read the statement of facts, below.
[Images via FBI court filings.]
