Defendant Named in Superseding Indictment, Accused of Using Pepper Spray Against Police
WASHINGTON — A Kentucky woman was arrested today for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.
Shelly Stallings, 42, of Morganfield, Kentucky, is charged with federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, among other charges. Stallings was arrested in Owensboro, Kentucky, and will make her initial court appearance today in the Western District of Kentucky.
Stallings and a second individual, Markus Maly, 47, of Fincastle, Virginia, were named as additional defendants in a superseding indictment returned in the District of Columbia in a case that previously included two other defendants: Peter J. Schwartz, 48, who is Stallings’s husband, and Jeffrey Brown, 55, of Santa Ana, California. Maly was arrested on Jan. 26, 2022, and initially charged in a criminal complaint. Schwartz was arrested on Feb. 4, 2021, and Brown was arrested on Aug. 26, 2021. All four defendants are accused of spraying a chemical irritant, pepper spray, at a line of police officers attempting to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building. Maly, Schwartz, and Brown previously pleaded not guilty to charges.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington and Louisville Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.
In the 13 months since Jan. 6, more than 750 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 235 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
The charges contained in any criminal complaint or indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.