D.C. police infiltrated inauguration protest group, court papers show
D. C. police this month searched the home of a local activist they say helped spearhead Inauguration Day protests that injured six police officers and resulted in extensive damage in downtown Washington.
Dylan Petrohilos, a 28-year-old graphic designer, said officers broke through the door of his Petworth home early on April 3. Police were led to the house after an undercover police officer secretly attended protest planning meetings in the weeks before the Jan. 20 inauguration, court documents show.
Authorities seized cellphones, computers and a black “anti-capitalist, anti-fascist” flag from Petrohilos’s front lawn, according to the court documents.
Petrohilos has not been charged with any crimes. He says that he has done nothing illegal as he helped plan the protests or participated in them.
The search was part of an effort by authorities to build a legal case against hundreds of activists accused of conspiring to riot and incite violence on the day President Trump was sworn in. But it also has reignited concerns from activists and others who question whether police have gone too far in making mass arrests Jan. 20 or in investigating demonstrators exercising their right to free speech.
Inauguration Day’s mass arrests are challenging for prosecutors]
Petrohilos was not arrested on Inauguration Day, but court papers say an undercover officer was there when the activist facilitated a Disrupt J20 meeting at a Mount Pleasant church Jan. 8.
“A question was posed by an attendee [at the planning meeting] about how “arrestable” this march was, and Petrohilos noted that MPD does not conduct mass arrests in Washington D.C.,” the affidavit reads. “Petrohilos further states that the organizers were asking the participants to wear all black clothing, and the participants should not wear unique clothing because that will make it easier to question or identify them.”
Petrohilos said in an interview that police broke through his door on the morning of the search. He said there is no incriminating material on any of his computers or phones. As a graphic designer, he said the posters and fliers he made advertising the various protests on Inauguration Day account for the bulk of the files on his devices.
“Facilitating public meetings is a First Amendment-protected activity,” he said. “I didn’t break the law on inauguration, and I think that it’s absurd that police are targeting events such as facilitating a public meeting.”
Organizers of the Disrupt J20 protests decried the search as a “desperate” attempt to try to build criminal cases against those charged. They held a news conference last week to bring attention to what they called the “unjust” police tactics used on protesters.
[Defense attorneys allege police trapped and the arrested protesters]
D.C. police defended the search, and said in an emailed statement that it was related to an ongoing criminal investigation.
“We cannot comment on the specifics of this case, out of concern it would jeopardize the investigation. A judge found enough probable cause to issue this search warrant and we believe it was in line with our mission of ensuring the safety of all District visitors and residents.”
The search warrant affidavit says that a seized cellphone belonging to a man arrested at the protests showed that the defendant had been texting with Petrohilos. Petrohilos, according to the affidavit, told the protester that he would be providing route information for the “anti-capitalist” march.
The affidavit also stated that police heard protesters describing plans during a podcast on an anarchist website. The self-identified anarchists said protesters were excited to create a mess on Inauguration Day and that the chances of arrest were low.
The unidentified duo on the podcast said that D.C. police had “been sued into a state of fear” and are now “trained little piggies.”
The two protesters were referring to the 2002 protests against the World Bank that resulted in the arrest of almost 400 protesters and bystanders at the District’s Pershing Park.
The District and federal authorities settled the final lawsuit in April filed by demonstrators at Pershing Park, bringing the total payout for the arrests of the hundreds of protesters caught in a “trap and detain” policy to $13.25 million.
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Police have acknowledged mistakes made during the Pershing Park demonstrations, but have said that during the inauguration, they strategically targeted protesters after the situation turned violent.
Disputes over privacy also extend to many of the people charged in the riots, as dozens of defendants this month filed motions in D.C. Superior Court trying to block a government request to search and upload cellphone data of more than 100 locked cellphones seized during the Inauguration Day arrests.
“You have your own private photos and videos on there no one has the right to see,” said defense attorney Patrice Sulton, who represents one of those charged. “Because there is so much information in a smartphone, the government should not be able to look at it until the court looks at it first. Then the court should then decide what is relevant, what the government can use and what can be disclosed to the defense.”
One of those arrested has reached a deal with prosecutors, who reduced his charge to misdemeanor rioting in exchange for a guilty plea. Jack Sorensen, 18, of Pittsford, N.Y., admitted to being dressed in black, wearing goggles and concealing his face with a mask at the time of the rioting. Sorensen did not admit to causing destruction. His lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
As part of the plea, prosecutors agreed to one year of supervised probation, a $500 fine and 50 hours of community service. Sorensen was also sentenced under the Youth Rehabilitation Act, which would allow him, should he successfully complete probation, to emerge with no criminal record because he is under 22.
