CLEVELAND, Ohio — Federal prosecutors charged a central Ohio pastor Wednesday in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol, accusing him of urging his congregants to fight the government during a sermon.
Pastor William Dunfee, 57, of Frazeysburg shoved a metal barrier into police officers during the attack Jan. 6, 2021, and believed then-President Donald Trump was leading the crowd, according to court records.
Dunfee is charged with felony interfering with law enforcement during civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding. He also faces five federal misdemeanor charges, including engaging in physical violence.
He is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries in Warsaw, Ohio. Court records do not list an attorney for Dunfee. He is expected to make an initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Columbus.
Frazeysburg is about 60 miles east of Columbus.
Dunfee is one of more than 870 people accused of storming the Capitol during an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden as president. More than 50 people from Ohio have been charged.
Dunfee on Dec. 27, 2020, gave a sermon— posted on the church’s Facebook page— in which he said: “The government, the tyrants, the socialists, the Marxists, the progressives, the RINOs, they fear you. And they should. Our problem is we haven’t given them reason to fear us.”
In the same sermon, he told congregants: “As I said earlier in another previous sermon is this, they used to tell us, you know what, you settle your differences at the ballot. How did that work out for us? It’s not over.”
“January 4th through 6th … Are you ready?”
The day of the attack on the Capitol, Dunfee walked around the grounds and shouted through a bullhorn, saying, “We are taking our house,” according to prosecutors.
He told listeners that the election had been stolen and that it was time for Americans to “rise up” and that elected officials needed to fear them.
Dunfee in other videos directed the crowd to where rioters “needed reinforcement,” and said that “President Trump is leading the crowd” and to “fight for Trump,” according to court records.
He twice helped a group push a metal barricade against U.S. Capitol police, then moved to the front of a crowd making its way toward the entrance. He stood outside the entrance, possibly after getting pepper-sprayed by police, as others poured inside, according to court records.
As others said they had succeeded in halting the certification process, Dunfee shouted: “Hallelujah,” and “Mission accomplished.”
The FBI began investigating Dunfee after a tipster provided screenshots of a Facebook post that said, among other things, Dunfee and other congregants pushed police officers during the riot.
“My local ministry group was there, and members of our group ‘stormed’ the Capital for a redress of our grievances,” the post said, according to court records. “Leading the way was Pastor Bill. We as Christinas (sic) have the duty to overthrow evil.”
Agents used cellphone records that put Dunfee’s phone, registered through his construction company Building Cross, at the Capitol building at the time of the attack.
Dunfee told the FBI he attended a rally in Washington, D.C., but claimed he did not know anyone else there, other than those in his group. He declined to identify anyone who went with him, according to court records.
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