The director of a New York funeral home admits he sprayed wasp killer at police during the January 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A Long Island funeral home owner pleaded guilty Thursday to spraying wasp killers 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 shows Peter Moloney participating in an attack on an AP photographer who was documenting 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 , “dedicated 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.

Also on Thursday, a Wisconsin man pleaded guilty to defying a court order to report to jail to serve a three-month prison sentence for participating in the Capitol riot. Instead, Paul Kovacik fled to Ireland and applied for asylum, authorities said.

Kovacik was arrested in June after voluntarily returning to the US from Ireland. He will remain in custody until a sentencing hearing scheduled by U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton for Dec. 10. His conviction on the new felony charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

Kovacik told authorities he withdrew his asylum application and returned to the U.S. because he was homesick, according to a statement from a U.S. Marshals Service deputy. Kovacik called himself a “political prisoner” when investigators questioned him after his arrival at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, according to the deputy’s statement.

On Thursday, Kovacik said he fled because he was afraid of going to jail.

“I should never have left,” he told the judge. “That was very stupid of me.”

Kovacik captured videos of the damage rioters caused as he tore through the Capitol on Jan. 6. He later uploaded his footage to his YouTube channel, with captions such as “Treason against the United States is about to be committed,” prosecutors said.