Web designer who allegedly stormed Capitol refused to wear mask after arrest, feds say

PLANO — A federal judge on Friday ordered the pretrial release of a man accused of storming the U.S. Capitol after expressing concern about his repeated refusal to wear a face mask after his arrest.

Daniel Goodwyn, 32, lives in San Francisco where he works as a web designer, but he was arrested at his parents’ Corinth home weeks after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol in which he allegedly took part.

He was captured on video inside the Capitol with the mob that forced its way in, according to authorities. The FBI says Goodwyn has claimed to be a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right nationalist group that authorities have said took part in the Capitol insurrection.

He is among a dozen North Texans arrested after the siege.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Priest Johnson ordered Goodwyn to be released on Tuesday and placed on home confinement with electronic monitoring.

And she scheduled a detention hearing for next Wednesday in the case of Daniel Ray Caldwell, 49, the latest to be arrested.

Caldwell, who worked for Texas Instruments for more than a decade, made his first appearance in court Friday. He has lived in The Colony and Lewisville, according to public records and social media.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Tatum had asked that Goodwyn be detained, saying he has a problem following rules and did not arrange to turn himself in when he knew the FBI was looking for him.

Instead, Goodwyn ignored an agent’s phone calls, Tatum said. When he was arrested at his parents’ home, Goodwyn refused to wear a face mask, said Kevin Ward, an FBI agent, even though some of the home’s occupants indicated that they might have been infected with COVID-19.

When agents put a mask on him, Goodwyn repeatedly took it off, Ward said. And he refused to say whether he might be infected, Ward said during his testimony. Goodwyn also refused a COVID-19 test, forcing authorities to find a jail facility that could keep him in quarantine, the agent said.

He eventually relented and tested negative, Ward said. Goodwyn’s mask defiance delayed his detention hearing by a week, the judge said.

That was part of a pattern, Ward said, because Goodwyn had twice been arrested after refusing to wear a face mask in public.

The first time, he was on a bus in San Francisco in September. The bus had to stop so police could come and get him, Ward said.

The second time, on Jan. 2 in Wyoming, Goodwyn caused a disturbance inside a gas station by refusing to wear a mask or to leave, Ward said. When deputies arrived, Goodwyn refused to identify himself as he sat in his vehicle, the agent said.

He then told the arresting deputy that he would “have his job by the end of the day,” Ward said.

Johnson said it was the first case she’s had where a defendant’s refusal to wear a face mask delayed proceedings. And she called his alleged participation in the storming of the Capitol a “big deal.”

“My bigger concern is, can he follow the rules?” she said. “There seems to be a pattern that shows he cannot.”

But defense attorney Michelle Allen-McCoy said that her client is charged with misdemeanors and isn’t accused of being violent or vandalizing anything at the Capitol. She also said Goodwyn has no history of violence or any criminal convictions.

Bruce Goodwyn testified that his son has a problem following some rules but that he believed he would comply with the terms of his pretrial release.

“He’s very principled but not always over the right things,” the elder Goodwyn told the judge.

Goodwyn is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to an FBI warrant affidavit.

When a Capitol police officer directed him out of the building, Goodwyn called the officer an “oathbreaker” and yelled for people to get the officer’s badge number, the FBI says.

Goodwyn posted about his Proud Boys ties as recently as November, while commenting on the presidential election, the affidavit said.

Goodwyn’s Linkedin account describes him as a “Web & Mobile App Designer & Developer” who worked as a web designer for Jews for Jesus in San Francisco between May 2016 and March 2019.

Most recently, he worked for “Stop Hate” as a “designer and citizen journalist,” according to his online résumé. His Twitter account shows that he believed COVID-19 was fake and that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

He tweeted “Driving to DC now” on Jan. 1.

On Jan. 6, the day of the uprising, he allegedly tweeted: “They WANT a revolution. They’re proving our point. They don’t represent us. They hate us.” He tweeted two days later that his Facebook and Instagram accounts had been “disabled.”

In the other case, Caldwell is charged with obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Caldwell’s Linkedin account says he has military experience from the 1990s, having studied electronics in the “United States Navy/Marine Corps.”

He is an equipment engineering technician in the semiconductor industry, according to his Linkedin account. Caldwell worked for Texas Instruments from 2009 to July 2020 as an equipment engineer, according to his Linkedin account.