MORGANTOWN — Morgantown business owner George Pierre Tanios is one of two men charged with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick and two others with bear spray during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Tanios, 39, owns Sandwich University, on Beechurst Avenue, and was wearing a hoodie with the shop’s logo on it while attending the riot. According to his LinkedIn profile, Tanios graduated from St. Peters High in New Brunswick, N.J. Under education he also lists “Sandwich University – Sandwich Nazi,” from 2005-present.
He was arrested at his home Sunday. A Morgantown spokesperson said the Morgantown Police Department was not involved.
Tanios is charged with nine counts, including three charges of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to injure an officer, civil disorder, and obstructing or impeding any official proceeding.
Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, also faces the same nine charges. A tipster to the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tanios and Khater knew each other and grew up together in New Jersey.
The FBI received two tips about Tanios that included a photo posted on social media of him at the Capitol Jan. 6, according to the charging document written by an FBI agent. He was positively identified by a former business partner who said he knew Tanios for 15 years. Law enforcement showed him two photos, one of which he said was 100% Tanios and he was “pretty sure” the other one was Tanios. He also said Tanios was involved in a legal dispute for allegedly embezzling $435,000 from their former business.
The document also has pictures of Tanios wearing the Sandwich University hooded sweatshirt Jan. 6 taken from surveillance video.
On a video from social media, Khater is seen reaching into the backpack worn by Tanios after saying “Give me that bear s***,” to which Tanios replies “Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet. … It’s still early.” Khater then uses an expletive and tells Tanios he was just “sprayed” and is seen holding a white can with a black top that “appears to be a can of chemical spray,” the FBI agent wrote.
At 2:23 p.m., as rioters were pulling on a bike rack, Khater is seen with his right arm high in the air, appearing to hold a canister in the direction of officers and moving it side to side.
The three officers, Sicknick, U.S. Capitol Police officer C. Edwards and Metropolitan Police Department officer D. Chapman, were temporarily blinded by the substance and needed medical attention to flush the substance from their eyes. They were incapacitated for at least 20 minutes.
Sicknick was killed in the riot. However, the charging document does not connect the incident involving Tanios to his death.
Edwards had scabbing under her eyes for weeks, the FBI agent said. She and Chapman described the spray as “as strong as, if not stronger than, any version of pepper spray they had been exposed to during training.”
Tanios made his first court appearance by video before U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia Michael J. Aloi on Monday afternoon.
He was informed of the charges against him, his rights and appointed two federal public defenders for the time being. Tanios had not filled out the financial affidavit to see if he qualified for an appointed attorney at the time of the hearing.
Aloi also told Tanios the government requested an order of temporary detention which was granted.
Tanios is being held in Central Regional Jail and will remain there until at least Thursday morning when there is a hearing on the matter.
In October 2020 someone threw a rock through the window of Sandwich U. Local media reported the owner calling it a “hate crime” because the window had a Trump 2020 sign in the window.
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