Details emerge about Orting School Board director charged in Jan. 6 insurrection

ORTING, Wash. — It has been nearly two years since the January 6 insurrection, but earlier this week, federal agents arrested two local men who are accused of attacking officers at the U.S. Capitol when it was breached.

KIRO 7 has obtained the court documents and statements from the Department of Justice. Investigators have also released photos they say were used to Identify 40-year-old Richard Slaughter as well as his stepson, 20-year-old Caden Gottfried.

Court documents appear to show that Slaughter was in a group near an entry tunnel to the U.S. Capitol building and that he grabbed a police shield from another rioter and used a pole to attack officers who were on the front lines trying to defend that tunnel. An anonymous source identified Slaughter and investigators were also able to connect him to Gottfried through phone records.

KIRO 7 has learned about Slaughter’s ties to Orting. The Orting School District website lists that Slaughter is on the Orting School Board of Directors. Pictures from the website indicate that he’s a school board director for Orting’s District 1. Slaughter appears to have other ties to Orting as well. The website for a teen community group named “Haven” has Slaughter listed as the volunteer program director for the group. Haven says it works to empower youth in the Orting community. Slaughter even appears to have a mortgage business — a Facebook page says he runs Loan Depot. A video on the Facebook page features Slaughter trying to talk up a listing in Frederickson.

Until Friday morning, Slaughter had a campaign web page that was up and live to run for the school board. The site appeared to go down late Friday morning, but a video was posted on the website and was recorded by KIRO 7.

In the campaign video, Slaughter lays out his policy positions when it comes to education. He starts the video saying, “Rick here — I am glad to see you stopped to check out where I stand on some things. I want to let my community know that I do not support critical race theory being taught in schools — and I’m against many of the elements in the comprehensive sex education bill that recently passed.”

We also found recent videos of the Orting School Board meetings that appear to show Slaughter taking part within the last month or two.

KIRO 7 contacted the Orting School District for a comment on his arrest. As of Thursday, Orting Schools said that Slaughter is still an active member of the school district board. The district said it had no further comment on the matter.

©2022 Cox Media Group