The son of a Brooklyn Supreme court judge, who was arrested outside of his Midwood home six days after he attended the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 dressed as a caveman, pleaded guilty to charges Wednesday in Washington, DC.
Aaron Mostofsky — the youngest son of sitting Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Mostofsky, who was elected to the post in 2020 — was pictured among the crowd who stormed a joint session of US Congress last January in an attempt to block the certification of the presidential election results, and now-President Joe Biden’s tenure, incited by former President Donald Trump.
The 35-year-old pleaded guilty Feb. 2 to one felony charge of civil disorder and two misdemeanor charges of theft of government property and of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. At his sentencing on May 6, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 for his felony charge, as well as up to a year imprisonment and a max fine of $100,000 for his two misdemeanors.
Court documents provide a timeline of Mostofsky’s day on Jan. 6, 2021: Decked out in extravagant furs, the judge’s son first entered the grounds of the US Capitol when he joined a crowd working to overwhelm a police perimeter near the Peace Circle at 12:55 pm to head to West Plaza. Courts allege that he then joined a group of people at 1:35 pm who were pushing against a police line that was trying to limit the crowd’s access to the Capitol. Shortly after at 2:09 pm, he climbed the outside stairs to the Upper West Terrace toward the Senate Wing Door.
Mostofsky purportedly snagged a US Capitol Police bullet-proof vest along the way and was approximately the 12th person to get inside the US Capitol Building at around 2:13 pm by smashing the windows near the Senate Wing Door, climbing through and breaking the door open from the inside. He then swiped a US Capitol Police riot shield left behind by another rioter to complete his outfit, according to prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
He was also a member of the crowd which pursued a US Capitol police officer upstairs and into the Ohio Clock Corridor, right outside the Senate Chamber. Mostofsky left the building at approximately 2:36 pm after giving an interview to a reporter, all the while donning the stolen police vest and riot shield. However, on his way out, another police officer took the shield from him.
Mostofsky is one of over 725 people who have been arrested across nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the insurrection, which left one police officer and four others dead. He is also one of more than 165 people who have pleaded guilty to federal charges, including 22 felonies.
