FAIRPORT, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — The man who rushed the stage at a Monroe County gubernatorial campaign event for Congressman Lee Zeldin and pulled a sharp object on him Thursday was arrested for federal charges on Saturday.
The federal charges for assaulting a member of Congress using a dangerous weapon are in addition to the state level charges levied against the 43-year-old Fairport veteran David Jacubonis.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
The FBI, New York State Police and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody Saturday morning at his apartment complex, the Daily Mail reported.
He’s made his first court appearance for the federal charges around 10:30 a.m.
The Metropolitan Republican Club tweeted a picture purporting to show the object the man pulled.
The image matches a weapon designed to be worn on knuckles that’s sold online as a “My Kitty Plastic Self-Defense Keychain Weapon.”
Jacobunis told investigators he didn't know who Zeldin was, was drinking that day and thought he was insulting veterans when he interrupted the speech, according to the federal criminal complaint filed Saturday.
He was originally charged with second-degree attempted assault, a lesser charge that’s not bail eligible.
He was therefore released on his own recognizance — a fact that the Zeldin campaign has used to attack bail reform.
The Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley who is responsible for the charge is a campaign co-chair for Zeldin.
The New York Post interviewed two Manhattan prosecutors who thought Doorley could have easily pushed harsher charges that would have been bail eligible.
In a statement to the New York Post, she claimed the Monroe County Sherriff's Office filed the charge and refused to specify if she reviewed it before it was filed.
Neither Doorley's office nor the Zeldin campaign responded to 1010 WINS request for comment on whether her prosecution is a conflict of interest and if she specifically chose lesser charges to drag the specter of bail reform into the conversation around the attack.
Due to the federal charges, Jacubonis will be detained at least until his next hearing on Wednesday.
Zeldin said he plans to increase security at campaign events until the election in November in which he’s challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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