Timothy Hale-Cusanelli biography: 13 things about US Capitol rioter from Colts Neck, New Jersey

Timothy Louis Hale-Cusanelli is a United States Army sergeant from Colts Neck, Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA. He was enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Hale-Cusanelli was a human resources specialist with the 174th Infantry Brigade at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Trenton, New Jersey. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. In May 2009, he started serving in the U.S. Army. He was never deployed but he received four awards namely an Army Achievement Medal, an Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, a National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. _(a)(b)
2. In August 2010, he was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and criminal mischief. _(b)
3. In 2011, he was arrested after stabbing a man he and his mother were living with in Pepperidge Court, Jackson, New Jersey. With a wound to the abdomen, the victim underwent surgery in the Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune Township, New Jersey. _(b)(c)
4. In 2012, he was charged with breach of peace, found guilty and fined $189. _(b)
5. In 2013, he was arrested following an investigation into scrap metal theft. He was found guilty of loitering and failure to have his car inspected. _(b)
6. In 2014, he was found guilty and fined for littering on state property. _(b)
7. In 2015,  he pleaded guilty to driving an unregistered motor vehicle. _(b)
8. On February 29, 2020, a Facebook user reported him to the police for anti-Semitic harassment. In March 2020, another Facebook user reported him for anti-Semitic harassment and cyberharassment. On April 26, 2020, he proudly displayed his Adolf Hitler mustache while on duty. _(a)(b)
9. He had not been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army when he participated in the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., USA on January 6, 2021. That day, Donald Trump supporters breached the building while a joint session of Congress was certifying the vote of the Electoral College and affirming Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election. _(d)
10. He is an white supremacist and a Nazi sympathizer, according to an informant who contacted Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agent Daniel J. Meyers on January 12, 2021. He expressed his extreme political opinions and viewpoints on his YouTube account named The Based Hermes Show, the informant said. On January 14, 2021, a conversation between him and the informant was recorded through a recording device approved by the NCIS. In the conversation, he admitted to entering the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021 and giving directions to other rioters via voice and hand signals. Meyers filed a criminal complaint against him, which was assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather on January 15, 2021. On January 17, 2021, he was arrested in New Jersey. He was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disrupting the orderly conduct of government business; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and obstructing a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder. _(a)(e)
11. On January 19, 2021, he made his initial appearance in New Jersey before a magistrate judge, who ordered his release with conditions but delayed his release to allow the U.S. to appeal. A regular poster on anti-Semitic social media groups Jackson Strong and Rise Up Ocean County, he was a Nazi sympathizer and Holocaust denier who would make racial jokes, Sergeant John Getz told NCIS special agents on January 20, 2021. Gertz was his supervisor at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Monmouth County from 2019 to 2020. As a contractor at Naval Weapons Station Earle, he maintained a secret security clearance and has access to a variety of munitions. _(a)(f)
12. On March 2, 2021, he filed his motion to modify bond to place the defendant on conditional release pending trial. On March 7, 2021, he filed a supplement to that motion and attached a letter of reference on his behalf, which was authored by Gertz, who said he was close with an African-American co-worker for whom he would frequently buy breakfast. The sergeant wrote, “Never have I seen Mr. Hale treat any of his African-American co-workers differently than anybody else, nor have I heard any distasteful jokes or language leave his mouth.” _(g)
13. He was 32 years old when he was convicted on May 27, 2022 of five counts against him. _(h)

(This is a developing story. More details are being added.)

_SOURCES:

• _{a. Daniel J. Meyers}
• _{b. Business Insider}
• _{c. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia}
• _{d. Army Times}
• _{e. Patch}
• _{f. U.S. Department of Justice} 
• _{g. The Lakewood Scoop}
• _{h. New York Daily News}