(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . West Helena Valley Fire Rescue chief arrested on Jan. 6 charges – Daily Montanan [1] ['Blair Miller', 'More From Author', '- January'] Date: 2024-01-10 The chief of West Helena Valley Fire and Rescue in Lewis and Clark County was arrested Wednesday and accused of assaulting police officers and trespassing on U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, according to court documents. Frank Dahlquist, 45, made his first appearance in federal court in Great Falls Wednesday afternoon on four federal counts, including knowingly remaining in a restricted building without authority, forcibly assaulting or impeding and law enforcement officer, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Court records show Dahlquist was advised of the charges against him and his other rights in court Wednesday, after which he was taken into to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. The charges against Dahlquist and his arrest were first reported Wednesday by Court Watch’s Seamus Hughes. Court documents show Dahlquist was charged by criminal complaint on Jan. 4 in the District Court for the District of Columbia after an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the criminal complaint, an FBI agent compared images of Dahlquist taken at the Capitol on Jan. 5 and 6 with Seattle news stories that detailed Dahlquist’s and other firefighters’ fights against their terminations for not taking the COVID-19 vaccines, and found they were the same man. In videos taken on Jan. 5 and 6 three years ago, Dahlquist was seen wearing a black “1776” hoody and a “thin red line” ballcap that he had also been seen wearing in Washington. The complaint says in August 2022, the agent interviewed Dahlquist’s supervisors at a fire station in Issaquah, Washington, where he worked at the time, who both positively identified him as the man seen in the images compiled by the FBI. One of them also provided the agent with Dahlquist’s cell phone number, which was shown as pinging inside the restricted area of the Capitol on Jan. 6 and from which text messages were sent about “Frank from Monroe” participating in the riots that day. The FBI agent wrote that they found video of Dahlquist spraying some type of pepper-spray into the face of a police officer on more than one occasion — incidents that were confirmed by the officers. Later that day, cameras inside the Capitol captured Dahlquist roaming through parts of the Capitol recording with his cell phone for about 18 minutes before he left the Capitol. According to the Helena Independent Record, Dahlquist was sworn in as the new chief of West Valley Fire Rescue, which serves the West Valley, Unionville, the North Hills, and Lewis and Clark County, in November 2022. The report said Dahlquist and his family moved to Helena from Monroe, Washington, and that Dahlquist had extensive prior fire experience with Snohomish Fire and Rescue, Eastside Fire and Rescue in Issaquah, and Getchell Fire in Snohomish County, Washington. At the time, West Valley officials said he as a “welcome addition” to the county’s wildland and brush fire response teams. Marc Boutilier, a West Helena Valley Fire District trustee, confirmed to the Daily Montanan Wednesday afternoon that the trustees were aware of Dahlquist’s arrest but did not have a comment at the time. “We’re just getting all the information today,” he said. “Until we get some more information, we just don’t really have a comment.” Other West Valley Fire Rescue officials did not immediately return an email and voicemail left Wednesday afternoon seeking comment on Dahlquit’s arrest and any potential next steps for the department. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2024/01/10/west-helena-valley-fire-rescue-chief-arrested-on-jan-6-charges/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/