WASHINGTON — An Indiana man who fled to avoid a nine-month prison sentence storming of the US Capitol was arrested in Canada this week on the fourth anniversary of the mob attack.
Anthony Vo was arrested Monday “without incident” in Whistler, British Columbia, said Rebecca Purdy, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency. Vo remained in custody Thursday, according to an immigration attorney representing him.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot. Vo is one of more than 700 suspects sentenced to prison on January 6. But last year he ignored a court order to report to prison.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., convicted Vo in April and ordered him to report to prison on June 14.
Vo has not kept a low profile since he disappeared. He regularly posts about his case on social media and promotes conspiracy theories about January 6. He has given several interviews to reporters and says he expects that pardoned by newly elected President Donald Trump later this month.
Vo has also used social media to taunt and criticize the judge who convicted him, claiming he was “wrongfully convicted by a kangaroo court.”
“My whole family hated Chutkan! It’s like we could feel the commie in her,” Vo posted in December.
Vo has said he filed a political asylum claim in Canada with the help of an immigration lawyer from Saskatchewan. He told The Toronto Sun that he was “almost 99% certain” that Trump will pardon him once he takes office on January 20.
“I really have no reason to doubt it,” Vo told the newspaper.
Trump has vowed to pardon the Capitol rioters on his first day back in the White House “political prisoners” and ‘hostages’. Trump has said he will look at individuals on a case-by-case basis, but he has not explained how he will decide who receives such aid.
Oluwadamilola Asuni, the immigration lawyer helping Vo with an asylum application, said he expects he will remain in Canadian custody pending a detention review hearing next Wednesday in British Columbia.
Purdy said the border agency has no record of Vo entering Canada through an “official port of entry.” Vo was arrested on a warrant issued under an immigration law. According to Purdy, the border agency removed more than 14,000 foreigners from Canada in 2024 for violating the same law.
Attorney Carmen Hernandez, who is representing Vo in his Jan. 6 case, said she learned of Vo’s arrest in Canada from news reports.
“All I can say is I haven’t heard from him since he was arrested,” Hernandez said.
Vo entered the Capitol with his mother after they drove from his home in Bloomington, Indiana, four years ago to attend then-President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally at the White House. Another rioter took a photo of Vo standing next to his mother, Annie Vo, in the Capitol Rotunda as he raised a flag above his head.
A jury convicted Vo of four crimes after a trial in September 2023.
Vo later told the judge that he “regretted that January 6 happened,” according to a transcript of his sentencing hearing.
“I know I shouldn’t have been there that day,” he said.
Chutkan, who oversaw Trump’s 2020 election interference casesaid it appeared Vo has no respect for the court or the rule of law. She warned him that failure to report to jail as instructed could lead to more criminal charges.
“He apparently has a different view of the Constitution and a different view of the seriousness of his actions. He is entitled to that opinion, but what he is being sentenced here today is because of his actions,” the judge said.
A jury trial for Annie Vo starts on March 10.
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