TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Polk County man arrested for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol is asking a federal judge to remove his GPS ankle monitor, but federal prosecutors are objecting that request to change his conditions of release.
Joshua Doolin was terminated from his job as a Polk County Fire EMT after his arrest on June 30. Doolin sprinted away from 8 On Your Side’s camera after leaving the federal court in Tampa for his first appearance.
According to a court filing from Doolin’s attorney, the 23-year-old exercises about five times a week and he “reports that the GPS anklet on his left leg is not only a hindrance to his exercise regimen, but that he has developed annoying blisters as a result of wearing the device.”
Doolin’s attorney also argues his client poses no threat to the community because of “his perfect record of compliance since his release.”
Doolin is charged with the misdemeanors of unlawful entry and disorderly & disruptive conduct in a restricted building.
“Nothing in the discovery provided to date contains any indicia of violence by Mr. Doolin,” his attorney writes.
Prosecutors say Doolin and four co-defendants, Jonathan Pollock, Joseph Hutchinson, Michael Perkins and his sister Olivia Pollock “engaged in a coordinated effort to attack law enforcement officers at the U.S. Capitol.”
In an 18-page court filing from prosecutors, they provide text messages showing Doolin discussed whether and how to bring guns and ammunition to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. In one message from Jan 5, prosecutors say Doolin wrote “I guess I’m going to go bring my-your AR.”
“On the morning of January 6, the defendant anticipated that violence would occur and enthusiastically welcomed it (“I wouldn’t mind dying with my family storming the capital on my birthday!”),” a prosecutor wrote. “Once at the Capitol grounds, the defendant consistently associated himself with a group of individuals – including his co-defendants – who committed a series of assaults on law enforcement officers and armed himself with chemical spray, zip ties, and a riot shield.”
Doolin is one of six Capitol riot defendants from Polk County, according to the George Washington University Program on Extremism.
Prosecutors say Jonathan Pollock was the “most violent member of (Doolin’s) group and remains fugitive.”
Florida leads the nation with 63 arrests in connection to the DOJ and FBI investigation into the attack at the Capitol by supporters of former President Trump who attempted to disrupt the certification of the 2020 electoral college results.
A judge will decide in the next few weeks whether Doolin can take off his ankle monitor.
