South Fayette man indicted in Capitol riot to remain jailed on federal charges

A South Fayette man who was allegedly seen smashing windows with a baseball bat while trying to enter the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection will remain jailed until his federal trial.

Courtesy of Allegheny County Jail
Courtesy of Allegheny County Jail
Jorden Robert Mink
Jorden Robert Mink, 27, of 640 Seminary Ave., was denied bond Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Lenihan during his detention hearing after he was indicted in Washington, D.C., on numerous federal charges earlier this month.
Federal investigators said they were tipped off about Mink’s involvement in the Capitol riot after someone recognized him using a baseball bat to break windows while trying to help the mob enter the building as Congress certified the presidential election.
Investigators said Mink entered the Capitol through the broken window and then began pulling out furniture, such as chairs, and handed them to others in the mob outside the building. A person who knows Mink saw photographs and videos of the siege at the Capitol and recognized him by the distinctive tattoos on his neck and fingers, according to court documents.
The person notified the FBI on Jan. 15 and then confirmed Mink as “the man wielding the baseball bat and breaking the window at the Capitol” during an interview with authorities two days later. The witness told investigators that Mink admitted to being at the Capitol during the riot and breaking the window, according to court records.
A review of Mink’s social media Instagram page showed a photograph posted on Election Day with him holding an assault rifle with an “I Voted” sticker on it. In the caption, he wrote, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet – Abraham Lincoln. Well … my magazines will be fully loaded just in case it’s not.”
Another photograph posted on Jan. 3 showed him at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., just three days before supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in a failed effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Authorities arrested Mink in McKees Rocks on Jan. 19. He was indicted by a grand jury on charges of unlawful entry on restricted grounds while armed; injury to property on Capitol grounds; violent entry, disorderly conduct, and physical violence on Capitol grounds; destruction of government property; theft of government property; and aiding and abetting.
Mink is currently being held at the Butler County jail, although it was unknown when U.S. marshals may transfer him to Washington, D.C., as his case moves through the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, where he was indicted.
His Pittsburgh-based attorney, Michael Moser, declined to comment after the detention hearing, which was held through video conferencing.
Mink is also facing drug charges filed by South Fayette police upon his Jan. 19 arrest.