Funeral home owner pleads guilty to assaulting police and journalists during Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A Long Island funeral home owner pleaded guilty Thursday to spraying wasp killer on police officers and assaulting two journalists, including an Associated Press photographer, during a mob riot at the U.S. Capitol nearly four years ago.
Peter Moloney, 60, of Bayport, New York, is scheduled to be sentenced on February 11 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols. Moloney answered the judge’s routine questions as he pleaded guilty to two assault charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the Capitol.
Defense attorney Edward Heilig said his client takes “full responsibility” for his behavior on Jan. 6.
“He deeply regrets his actions that day,” Heilig said after the hearing.
According to an FBI agent’s statement, Moloney appears to have come to the Capitol “prepared for violence,” equipped with goggles, a helmet and a can of insecticide. Video shows him spraying the insecticide on officers, the officer wrote.
Video also captured Peter Moloney taking part in one attack on an AP photographer who documented the riot at the Capitol. Moloney grabbed the AP photographer’s camera and pulled, causing the photographer to trip down the stairs, the affidavit said. Moloney was then seen “hitting and pushing” the photographer before other rioters pushed the photographer over a wall, the officer wrote.
Moloney also approached another journalist, grabbed his camera and yanked on it, causing that journalist to trip down the stairs and damage his camera, according to a court filing included in Moloney’s plea deal.
Moloney pleaded guilty to one count of assault, punishable by a maximum prison sentence of eight years, for spraying wasp killers on four Metropolitan Police Department officers. For assaulting the journalist whose camera was damaged, he pleaded guilty to an offense punishable by a maximum prison sentence of one year. He also admitted to assaulting the AP photographer.
Moloney, co-owner of Moloney Family Funeral Homes, was arrested in June 2023. His brother and co-owner, Dan Moloney, said in a statement after his brother’s arrest that the “alleged actions taken by an individual on his own time are in no way reflective of the core values” of their company , “which is committed to earning and maintaining the trust of all community members of every race, religion and nationality.”
Heilig said Peter Moloney has since left the family business.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes related to January 6. More than 950 of them have pleaded guilty. More than 200 others have been convicted after trials by judges or juries.