Former Biddeford resident Christopher Maurer, 45, faces eight federal charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol. FBI Photo
PORTLAND — A former Biddeford man is charged with felony assaulting, resisting, or impeding a police officer, and doing so with use of a dangerous weapon along with one count of civil disorder, and five misdemeanors in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Christopher Maurer, 45, formerly of South Street was taken into custody in Westbrook on Wednesday, Feb. 22, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kristen Setera. She declined to be more specific.
Christopher Maurer FBI Photo
Maurer made a brief appearance Wednesday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf at U.S. District Court in Portland where he waived further hearings in Maine, was ordered detained and was committed to the District of Columbia for further court proceedings.
According to the criminal complaint, FBI investigators reviewed CCTV and other video footage from Jan. 6, 2021, to identify individuals involved in the breach.
“During this review, an unidentified male was observed on the front lines of rioters in front of law enforcement on the Lower West Terrace entryway, known as ‘the tunnel,'” a court affidavit accompanying the complaint states. “The individual appeared to grab a law enforcement officer’s shield and appeared to attempt to strike an officer with a large pole.”
The individual, later identified as Maurer, investigators said, approached the tunnel twice that day, first walking up the steps towards the Lower West Terrace tunnel at around 3 p.m.
After reaching the line of police officers defending the entrance to the Capitol, Maurer allegedly attempted to pull a police shield or strike police officers who were helping another rioter experiencing a medical emergency, investigators wrote. He then left the tunnel but reappeared there again 1 1/2 hours later. CCTV and body camera footage showed Maurer screamed and gestured at police officers who sprayed him with oleoresin capsicum (pepper spray), FBI investigators wrote in the affidavit. They said he then picked up what appeared to be a long metal pipe or pole from the ground and swung it at the front line of police officers at the tunnel.
The affidavit states that Maurer then displayed both of his middle fingers to police and, according to a review of body camera footage, shouted expletives at officers before walking away.
During the subsequent investigation, law enforcement officers traced a cell phone to Maurer.
In March 2022, investigators contacted the management company of Maurer’s apartment on South Street and learned he had abandoned the property two months earlier. A company employee told investigators she had seen him in the neighborhood and that he appeared to be living in his car.
Investigators wrote that a trace of Maurer’s bank records in May 2022 showed he rented a car in Saco from Jan. 4 to 7, 2021. The license plate on the rental vehicle was read at 8 p.m. on Jan. 6 at Capitol Street and I Street SW in Washington, D.C., according to the affidavit.
Investigators in January saw an individual who matched Maurer’s appearance in a vehicle at a park and ride at Exit 15 in Falmouth.
He was arrested in Westbrook on Wednesday morning, Feb. 22 by the FBI with the assistance of Westbrook Police.
Biddeford Deputy Police Chief JoAnne Fisk said Maurer ‘s history with the department is sparse — he was issued various summonses for traffic violations in 2017 and was arrested for operating after suspension in July that year. She said he was interviewed on Dec. 30, 2020, at his South Street apartment in connection with an alleged incident, but police determined there was no probable cause to pursue any charges.
In addition to the felonies of assaulting, resisting, or impeding police, doing so with a dangerous weapon and civil disorder, Maurer is charged with five misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct, engaging in physical violence, along with impeding passage and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds or buildings.
If convicted, Maurer faces as many as 20 years in federal prison on the assault with a dangerous weapon charge. The two other felonies carry maximum penalties of eight and five years, respectively.
The misdemeanors carry maximum penalties of six months or one year in prison.
Maurer has requested court-appointed counsel, court records show.
According to a Portland Press Herald report by Emily Allen, Maurer was not required to enter a plea on his first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon but interrupted the judge to object to the allegations that he was captured on video swinging a pole at police.
“That never happened,” Maurer said.
Another York County resident, Kyle Fitzsimons, 37, of Lebanon, was convicted on 11 charges for his actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, including assaulting at least three law enforcement officers. He was scheduled to be sentenced this month but that has been postponed; Fitzsimons’ public defender quit following his conviction, the Press Herald reported.
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