NH man dubbed 'KnifeLeather' arrested for alleged role in Capitol riot
Charles Espinosa had been the subject of an intense three-year search by online "sedition hunters" following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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A three-year hunt for the insurrectionist dubbed “KnifeLeather” by amateur sleuths ended in New Hampshire. Charles Anthony Espinosa, a 43-year-old Derry resident, was arrested at his home early on the morning of March 26. He now faces up to ten years in prison for his alleged involvement in the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In court documents, the FBI acknowledged the role that online “sedition hunters” played in amassing the evidence that led to Espinosa’s arrest. “The hashtag identifier ‘#KnifeLeather’ was associated with Espinosa in open source research. ... These posts contained multiple images of Espinosa outside and inside the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021,” an FBI Special Agent wrote.
The FBI highlighted crowd-sourced social media posts that included photographs of Espinosa “with what appeared to be a large knife concealed in the rear waistband of his pants, underneath his black leather jacket” that placed Espinosa under the scaffolding on the west front of the Capitol, “within the restricted area, while in possession of a large knife.”
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Court documents also revealed that “a substantial amount of the social media depicting Espinosa on January 6, 2021” was uploaded by Instagram user "Charlie_alpha_echo." The FBI noted the username corresponds to the phonetic alphabet spelling of Espinosa's initials; they linked the account to Espinosa through his phone number and email address, which he used to register the account.
One of the Instagram videos tagging Espinosa showed him on the steps of the Capitol speaking to the January 6 crowd through a megaphone held by “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley. In the video, Espinosa can be heard telling the crowd, “I think it will be a very fucking good idea if we come back on Inauguration Day and do it again… I think this should be happening in every single major city in the country.”
Using third-party video and Capitol Police surveillance footage, the FBI tracked Espinosa entering the Capitol grounds by stepping over a downed fence, using a bike rack to climb up a wall of the Capitol building with the help of other rioters, entering the Capitol building through the Senate Wing door on the west front, walking through the North Crypt sector to the Rotunda, and then, approximately 45 minutes after he entered the Capitol, exiting through the east front.
Espinosa was charged with entering a restricted building or grounds; impeding or disrupting the orderly conduct of government business; engaging in disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds with the intent to disrupt Congress; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing on Capitol grounds. He faces up to 10 years in prison for the most serious count, 18 U.S.C. § 1752(b)(1)(A), which carries an enhanced penalty if the violator “uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon” during the commission of the crime.
From the Keystone State to the Granite State
Espinosa appears to have been living in the Philadelphia area at the time of the Capitol attack, working as an emergency medical technician (EMT) with stints as a musician and an actor. He was issued an EMT license in Philadelphia from the Pennsylvania Department of Health in 2020 and has shared photos on social media wearing a uniform from Philadelphia-based Healthfleet Ambulance. Court documents reveal that Espinosa requested paid time off from his former employer for January 6-7, 2021, writing “Stop the steal!” in the leave request comments section.
Espinosa’s social media posts suggest that he had moved to New Hampshire by the summer of 2022 and wound up in Derry. He received a New Hampshire EMS license in January 2023 and was tagged on social media as a co-worker by employees at Parkland Medical Center in Derry. The state’s Emergency Services User Management Portal indicates Espinosa’s New Hampshire EMT license expired in April 2024, a few weeks after his arrest.
Though Espinosa’s Instagram account is no longer active and there is a gap in his Facebook timeline from October 2019 to July 2022, a number of his January 6 related social media posts remain online.
Espinosa frequently posted messages to a Facebook page for supporters of heavy metal musician Jon Schaffer, who was arrested after he was photographed entering the Capitol on January 6 armed with bear spray. After the Iced Earth guitarist pleaded guilty to two felonies, Espinosa wrote, "He shouldn't be sentenced at all! The feds got him on bullshit charges. Once it blows over, he’s going to blow shit up again."
After moving to New Hampshire, Espinosa appears to have created a Twitter account with a username that matches his Instagram account. Posts reference his age, his Cuban roots, and his time in Philadelphia. In his messages, Espinosa rails against communism, continues to deny that Trump lost the 2020 election, and defends the January 6 attack on the Capitol. “It was NOT and was never an insurrection,” he wrote. “The evidence was ALWAYS there that [Biden did not win]. ‘What is anyone going to do about it?’ is the real question.”
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