The mayor of Gravette, Arkansas issued a public statement after one-time resident Richard Barnett was busted sitting in Nancy Pelosi’s office in a viral photo taken Wednesday during a riot inside the US Capitol.
“It’s a shame something like this is what puts you in the public eye,” Mayor Kurt Maddox told local Fox24. “This is not the city of Gravette, this one person is not who Gravette is and not who the people are.”
Barnett, 60, was charged with multiple federal counts.
While he technically lives outside the small town of 3,340, that hasn’t stopped locals from being caught up in the scandal.
“Gravette is just a really small community, we are a bunch of good people [and] we just had that one spoiled egg I guess who caused a lot of trouble for Gravette now,” resident Joseph Cowan told the news station.
Mayor Maddox said the incident had resulted in threats to locals and businesses in the area and that he was working to ensure a heightened police presence in the community.