Rutherford College Planning Board member arrested for alleged assault during Jan. 6 US Capitol breach

FBI agents arrested a Rutherford College Planning Board member on Wednesday, Aug. 7, who allegedly assaulted law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Gregory Charles Peck Jr., 51, of 140 Dogwood St., was appointed four years ago to the Planning Board by the Rutherford College Town Council. He is also the owner of Deeply Rooted, a local landscaping company.

As of Friday, Aug. 16, neither Peck nor business co-owner Chris Reed had responded to phone/email requests for comment from The Paper.

Peck’s alleged offenses have left people speechless, including Town Manager Jessica Bargsley.

“It’s a shock,” Barglsey said, two days after he was arrested. “He’s a sweet guy … he has a beautiful family.”

As far as his appointed position goes, the council can vote to remove him and may just leave the position vacant until his term expires in just four months.

His actions, among many others, are being investigated as a terrorism-related crime.

On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol, attempting to interfere with the certification of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election.

The rioters assaulted the Capitol police force and ransacked the complex, destroying property and sending members of Congress and their staff into hiding in offices and bunkers. A protester who was shot by police died and approximately 140 members of law enforcement were assaulted.

The following information is from court documents.

Peck’s alleged crimes were captured through a body-worn camera (BWC), device location, and the U.S. Capitol surveillance footage on Jan. 6 from around 2:30 p.m. to 5:44 p.m.

According to court documents, Peck entered the restricted grounds on Jan. 6, through the West Front. With a flagpole with an attached yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden Flag, he struck a Metropolitan Police Department officer. In the court documents, the assaulted officer is named as Officer P.N.

While being pushed back by a U.S. Capitol Police officer, Peck lifted the pole with his right hand over another rioter’s shoulder to strike the officer’s left arm. P.N. captured this incident on his BWC around 2:31 p.m.

By the area of the Southwest scaffolding, Peck later had a can of an orange substance in his right hand that was used to spray an officer.

After traveling deeper to the entrance of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, he grabbed the jacket of an MPD Officer B.M., who was actively being assaulted and dragged into a crowd of rioters. As Peck grabbed the officer’s jacket collar, it caused the officer’s head to jerk back, and he was struggling to breathe.

Rioters within the crowd can be heard yelling at Peck, “Let him breathe,” “He can’t breathe!” and “Let him go!”

Peck had let go of B.M. momentarily but grabbed B.M. again as he was being pushed back by other rioters who appeared to be protecting the officer.

A couple of rioters were able to pull the officer to a door that led to the elevator built into the Inauguration stage.

Peck is one of more than 1,488 individuals allegedly involved in the breach of the U.S. Capitol who have been charged across the 50 states. He is one of nearly 550 individuals charged with assaulting an officer.

Peck is charged with two felony offenses filed in the District of Columbia:

• Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon
• Civil disorder

Peck is also facing the following misdemeanor offenses:

• Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds
• Engaging in physical violence in restricted grounds or buildings
• Engaging in physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings with a deadly or dangerous weapon
• Disorderly and disruptive conduct in restricted grounds or buildings
• Entering and remaining in restricted grounds or buildings

SEARCHING FOR PECK

After the riot, the FBI obtained information that identified Peck as someone involved in the Capitol riot.

Investigators followed the lead by searching law enforcement databases for Peck’s phone number. Using Google geofencing data and a search warrant served on Google, investigators determined that Peck’s number was present at the U.S. Capitol.

“Google estimates device location using sources including GPS data and information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and Bluetooth beacons. This location data varies in its accuracy, depending on the source(s) of the data. As a result, Google assigns a ‘maps display radius’ for each location data point,” stated a court document.

The data showed a device associated with Peck was found on the grounds from 3:06-5:44 p.m.

Through open-source research for his Facebook account, Peck posted a selfie of himself on March 1, 2022, where he appears to be present at the riot.

Peck wore the following:

• Black and gray baseball hat with a black Carolina logo with a blue crab
• Tan jacket over a black hoodie
• Multicolored gaiter face mask around his neck

Investigators compared the selfie to his driver’s license which appears to be the same individual. Two individuals who knew Peck personally were also consulted and identified him as the person in the photos.

The FBI is not the only organization that has been looking for Peck.

Many rioters and their identities have been investigated by internet users by assigning them nicknames as hashtags — Peck is known as #CarolinaCoward.

Searching this hashtag on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) shows various posts dating back to the earlier days of 2021 with screenshots from footage taken during the riot.

These include his alleged offenses, his appearances throughout the crowd, and head shots captured.

The investigation is ongoing.