Man arrested on Upper East Side with SUV loaded with ammo, shotgun in aftermath of Capitol siege
A fanatical Trump supporter and bodybuilder who runs a business training men on picking up women was arrested on the Upper East Side Wednesday with an arsenal of ammunition, a shotgun and other tactical items in his SUV.
In the latest bust stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, Samuel Fisher, 35, was arrested near E. 89th St. and York Ave. on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
A search warrant return — a document which records what was seized in a search — was visible in Fisher’s Chevrolet 1500 Tahoe SUV.
It listed a shotgun, six cases of shotgun shells, 12 boxes of 9mm ammunition, a black tactical vest with a loaded clip, eight more loaded clips, a second vest with ballistic plates and a knife, and two machetes. In all, Fisher possessed more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, authorities say.
Members of New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force huddled around Fisher’s SUV as cops blocked E. 88th St. after making the arrest. Video from the scene showed an FBI officer carrying the shotgun seized from the SUV to an evidence van.
“I see flashing lights and agents,” said a neighbor looking down on the action from her 30th floor window. “Then I see a van with two doors open and they’re searching it (the SUV). And there’s yelling. At first I’m like, holy s---, is there a bomb in there?”
Fisher emerged in handcuffs, she said, and agents put him in a car.
“There’s families here. It’s pretty wealthy,” the neighbor said of her blocks. “I’m freaked out if he actually lives here. I’m on that street multiple times a day.”
Also spotted in the car were an American flag, a copy of the Daily News with President Trump’s face on it, an emergency poncho and B12 vitamins.
He had been crashing in an Upper East Side apartment for the past three days, where agents found an assault rifle and a Glock 9-mm handgun.
Federal prosecutors said Fisher was in D.C. on Jan. 6 with multiple guns and a bulletproof vest. His social media is covered with gun photos and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen.
“If millions of patriots don’t show up with guns ... It could be over,” Fisher wrote online, according to the feds. “I’m in some nasty air b n b in the Hood. Feel like s--- and (tomorrow) they’re gonna steal the election then I have to drive 10 Hours back home.”
Prosecutors said an informant tipped them to photos of Fisher in a restricted of the Capitol steps holding a flag which read, “Don’t Tread on Trump, Keep America Great.”
In an online essay titled “January 6 2021 will be the most important day of our lives,” Fisher under his online nom de plume Brad Holiday, writes, “We The People, are facing off against Communists or Satanists that have blackmailed, bribed and influenced almost every member of our Government, Media, Educational system etc.
“Tomorrow, Trump and We The People will be betrayed again by every so called representative who said they’d fight for us. ... Trump just needs to fire the bat signal … deputize patriots… and then the pain comes. 1 Million Pissed off men with guns … bad idea.”
In the aftermath of the riot, Fisher wrote, according to prosecutors, “It was awesome. It was dangerous and violent. People died, but it was f---ing great if you ask me. Seeing cops literally run . . . was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Fisher, who fancies himself a pickup artist, operates a website devoted to attracting women and wealth and hawking a $250 program called Attraction Accelerator.
Clients “can make requests or ask questions by texting me for life included in that price,” he writes. The program includes advice on grooming, yoga, skin care, working out — and handling a gun.
In one online video, he says, “Are you a man struggling to pick up women? My name is Brad Holiday and me and Jason James help men get high-value girls using my predictable pick-up system.”
In another video he says, “Living with women. Don’t do it. They bring drama. They can’t help it.”
Fisher describes himself as a fitness trainer, a bodybuilder, an MMA fighter and marketing director. He was living upstate New York, where he bought his guns, and also staying with friends in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. He sometimes lived out of his car.
He had previously lived in the city for 12 years, but had “severed ties” and “evacuated the city because of his disgust with what was happening here,” prosecutor Ben Schrier said Wednesday.
He also offers advice on “prepping,” or preparing for doomsday. “Knives are a must for survival and general dude s---,” he writes. “They never run out of bullets. They are used to cut s--- and process wood.”
The headline of the top article on his website Wednesday was “Joe Biden (and his family) are degenerate criminal pedophiles.”
Another entry states “Democrats are the champions of looters, rioters and Black Lives Matter terrorists.”
Photos of him online show him orating in front of a Trump flag and wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap.
“The Democratic party is the party of the subversive, Godless, criminals,” he wrote Dec. 9.
Fisher was charged with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct on restricted grounds — the Capitol — both misdemeanors.
At Fisher’s arraignment, prosecutor Ben Schrier said he should be held without bail. “He was at the Capitol for the express purpose of being violent,” Schrier said. “This is not a person who is a gun collector. He is accumulating weapons for the purpose to use them for violence.”
Fisher’s lawyer, Tamara Giwa of the Federal Defenders, argued the current misdemeanor charges weren’t serious enough to hold him pending his trial.
“We’re talking about two misdemeanor charges for a person who has no criminal history, no warrants, and there is no reason to believe he would not appear in court as soon as required to,” Giwa said. “The statements he makes about his feelings (toward the government) are not a crime. His feelings about his experience in DC are not a crime.”
In the end U.S. Magistrate Judge ordered Fisher held pending transfer to federal court in Washington, D.C., where his case will be tried. “What tips the scales is the possession of weapons,” he said. “That to me is a serious danger to the community.”
A second man, Patrick Edward McCaughey III, was arrested Tuesday night in the upstate town of South Salem.
He is charged with using a riot shield to press against a Capitol police officer screaming as he’s squeezed between a door in the midst of a violent confrontation with rioters at a key entry point in the Capitol.
The arrests followed dozens of others across the nation as federal authorities seek to hold people who stormed the Capitol responsible for their conduct, as well as anyone making online threats to kill elected officials.
Five people died in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, including a police officer. The mob attack — goaded by former President Donald Trump — came as Congress was certifying the Electoral College votes that put President Biden in office.
With Esha Ray and Brittany Kriegstein
