Ex-Arlington Proud Boy pleads guilty to fighting police in Jan. 6 riot

ARLINGTON — A Proud Boy who previously lived in Arlington has pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a plea agreement filed Feb. 10, Daniel Lyons Scott, who went by the nickname “Milkshake,” admitted to participating in the breach as hundreds tried to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Scott, 29, acknowledged he committed two crimes: obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. He also agreed to pay $2,000 as restitution to the Architect of the Capitol.

In his plea, Scott admitted he “moved a police barricade” and assaulted officers “with the corrupt intent to obstruct, impede, or influence Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote.”

Sentencing is set for May 23 in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. Under federal guidelines, he likely faces up to 5¼ years in prison, court records show.

Scott is one of nearly 1,000 who have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Federal prosecutors have charged over 300 with assaulting or impeding authorities, according to the Department of Justice.

While living in the Arlington area, Scott was a prominent member of the local Proud Boys, an organization labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He used to work at Boeing.

In late December 2020, he and other Proud Boys decided to travel to Washington D.C. to protest the certification of the electoral college vote. They made their plans over Telegram, an encrypted messaging application, according to court documents.

“You know, if congress is blocked from the joint session on the 6th, they don’t certify and trump stays,” one planner wrote in a message to Scott and others. “Would be shame if protest kept them from doing that.”

In the days before the insurrection, Scott attended a “Stop the Steal” rally in Florida. While there, he chanted that phrase into a megaphone while listening to Roger Stone, an adviser to former President Donald Trump.

On Jan. 5, he flew to Washington D.C. The next day, with a bulletproof vest and ski goggles, Scott headed to the Capitol. He met up with over 100 other Proud Boys at the Washington Monument.

While the group rallied around the east side of the Capitol building just before noon, Scott yelled, “Let’s take the (expletive) Capitol,” the defendant conceded in court papers.

“Don’t yell it, do it,” another reportedly responded.

A little over an hour later, Scott and his comrades moved onto the Capitol grounds after breaching police lines. Publicly available video shows Scott and others shoved officers in riot gear to get the mob onto the Capitol steps, as The Daily Herald previously reported.

Federal prosecutors believe Scott could’ve been the first person to initiate contact with Capitol police at this location.

After the assault, numerous Proud Boys surged up the Capitol steps, making them among the first rioters to enter the Capitol that day, according to prosecutors. Scott didn’t follow them up.

“Proud of your (expletive) boy,” Scott yelled.

“Yeah! Taking the Capitol,” his co-defendant Christoper Worrell, a member of the same Proud Boys chapter, shouted back.

The next day, Scott flew back to his new home state of Florida. Worrell texted Scott about an issue they had with the leadership of their Proud Boys chapter. Scott texted to “Siege the chapter,” according to court papers.

“Much easier than the Capitol,” Worrell responded.

In May 2021, authorities arrested Scott for his involvement in the breach. That summer, a federal grand jury indicted him on 10 criminal charges, ranging from obstruction and disorderly conduct to physical violence at the Capitol.

Those charges were later dismissed in favor of a new indictment on nine counts along with Worrell, given his close contact with Scott at the riot. Last week’s plea was for two of them.

In exchange, prosecutors will move to dismiss the remaining charges against Scott. The criminal case against Worrell was pending this week.

Scott is not the only man with Snohomish County ties to be charged with participating in the breach. In October, federal prosecutors accused two Lynnwood men, Tucker Weston and Jesse Watson, of raising a Trump banner and taking selfies inside the U.S. Capitol that day.

Jake Goldstein-Street: 425-339-3439; jake.goldstein-street@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @GoldsteinStreet.