Daniel Warmus: Jan. 6 Conviction, Audits, and Confrontations

Daniel Warmus is a Western New York man known for two overlapping legal stories: his conviction for entering the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021, breach, and his ongoing work as a self-described First Amendment auditor who films inside government buildings and posts the footage to his YouTube channel, “Auditing Erie County.” Based in Alden, near Buffalo, he has been both a criminal defendant in federal court and a civil rights plaintiff in cases against police departments and municipalities across New York.¹²

The January 6 Case

Capitol Police security footage showed Warmus entering through the Senate Wing Doors at approximately 2:17 p.m. on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors said he was among the first people to reach the Rotunda. He was wearing a “Trump 2020” hat and a sweatshirt reading “CNN is fake news,” and he was carrying a flag with an anti-Antifa message.¹³

The FBI opened an investigation after a tipster reported on January 12, 2021, that Warmus had bragged about the breach, said he had smoked marijuana inside the building, and shown a video he recorded there. News reports placed the setting at a dental office. Agents linked him to his auto repair business, Worm-a-Fix Automotive in Orchard Park, and cell-site data placed his phone consistent with the Capitol interior.³⁴

Warmus was arrested on May 18, 2021. On May 23, 2022, he pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of willfully and knowingly parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol. The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Paul L. Friedman.¹⁵

At sentencing on September 27, 2022, Judge Friedman went above the prosecution’s request of 30 days and imposed 45 days of incarceration, two years of probation, 60 hours of community service, and $500 in restitution. The judge cited Warmus’s auditing videos as a “significant factor,” calling them evidence of “brazen disrespect” for law enforcement and the rule of law. The sentence barred him from entering any law enforcement building without first obtaining permission.¹

According to the Daily Freeman, Warmus was granted clemency by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025.⁶

The “Auditing Erie County” Channel

Warmus’s YouTube channel, “Auditing Erie County,” records him walking into government buildings, police stations, and other public facilities with one or more cameras rolling. He often refuses to identify himself when questioned. He photographs police vehicles, sometimes pressing his camera against the windows, and when employees or officers push back, the confrontation becomes the content. He grades each audit based on how officials react. He has described his purpose as testing public servants’ knowledge of the Constitution and providing “checks and balances” on government.⁷

The channel has grown steadily. It had roughly 18,000 subscribers in mid-2022, about 73,000 by mid-2023, and approximately 174,000 by early 2026, with hundreds of videos and tens of millions of total views.⁷²⁸

A pattern has emerged in what happens after videos go online. Municipalities have reported being flooded with hostile calls, emails, and threats from his viewers. In July 2023, the Town of Hamburg Police Department said its non-emergency lines were “inundated” with “frivolous” and sometimes threatening calls after Warmus posted a video about the department.²

Probation and the Auditing Work

Federal probation officers asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo to bar Warmus from recording and posting audit videos as a condition of his supervised release. Judge Vilardo declined, finding that such a restriction would violate his First Amendment rights.⁹ After the Hamburg complaint, however, on July 13, 2023, Vilardo did impose a narrower condition prohibiting Warmus from engaging in non-criminal harassment or disorderly conduct while performing audits. The pre-existing ban on entering law enforcement buildings without permission remained in effect.²

Confrontations, Charges, and Civil Suits

The auditing has produced a string of encounters in which Warmus has appeared on both sides of the courtroom.

Erie, Pennsylvania (April 2022)

After photographing police vehicles outside the Erie Police Department, Warmus was handcuffed and held in a cell for more than 50 minutes without being charged. He said an officer twisted his arm and wrist and that the handcuffs broke the skin on his right wrist. He was released without charges and said he was considering a civil suit alleging First and Fourth Amendment violations, though no filing was confirmed in later reporting.⁷

Wyoming County, Hamburg, and Blasdell (2022)

In June 2022, Warmus was detained at a Wyoming County government building after refusing to sign in with his real name. He filed a civil rights complaint over the sign-in requirement, and the county later stopped requiring visitors to sign in.¹⁰

On July 11, 2022, Warmus said officers from the Town of Hamburg and Village of Blasdell searched, handcuffed, and detained him on Route 5 “without suspicion of a crime,” releasing him with only a traffic ticket for parking on the shoulder. He later brought a federal civil rights suit, Warmus v. Town of Hamburg et al, in the Western District of New York.¹⁰¹¹

Lockport (2023–ongoing)

In December 2023, Lockport City Court Judge Thomas M. Dimillo dismissed harassment charges that four City of Lockport clerks had filed against Warmus, alleging his presence in their office caused alarm. Warmus argued the charges were retaliation for his pursuit of police body-camera footage from a February 2023 audit at a Department of Labor office in Lockport. After the city denied his Freedom of Information Law request, he filed an Article 78 lawsuit. That case settled: officials acknowledged the footage should have been released but said it had been “accidentally” destroyed, and the city paid his attorney fees. His attorney, Brittanylee Penberthy, said Warmus “wasn’t pursuing it for money.”¹²

A separate federal civil rights suit, Warmus v. Tarnowski et al, names the City of Lockport, Detective Lieutenant Steven Tarnowski, the four clerks who filed the harassment charges, and unnamed officers. The case was removed from Niagara County Supreme Court to federal court in December 2024. As of April 2026, the court was weighing a motion for summary judgment before Judge Vilardo, with oral argument held on April 13, 2026. The court asked both sides to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s March 2026 ruling in Zorn v. Linton.¹³

East Aurora (December 2023)

On December 29, 2023, Warmus was filming inside the Aurora Senior Center when staff asked him to leave over privacy concerns for members. He refused, and police were called. Warmus alleged that Officer Steve Cartwright grabbed his arm and camera equipment and that other officers failed to intervene. He filed suit on February 28, 2025, in Erie County Supreme Court against the Village of East Aurora, the Town of Aurora, and four officers. A police investigation concluded Cartwright had used his arm to move Warmus out of his line of sight and deemed the grabbing accusation “unfounded.”¹⁴

Hurley Town Hall (January 2026)

On January 8, 2026, Warmus entered Hurley Town Hall in Ulster County with a handheld camera and told Deputy Town Clerk Jeffrey Mann and Town Supervisor Michael Boms he was “investigating the town” for “misconduct.” Officials repeatedly asked him to stop recording and leave. Boms made brief physical contact while attempting to guide him along, and Warmus responded with “Don’t touch me” and threatened legal action. A State Trooper and an Ulster County Sheriff’s deputy responded; state police advised officials that Warmus had the right to be in public areas of the building but could not enter private offices uninvited.⁶

The video drew more than 57,000 views within days.¹⁵ Boms said the town received more than 250 emails and 200 voicemails from Warmus’s followers, some containing threats of violence and sexist comments directed at Councilwoman Debbie Dougherty.⁶ The call volume forced the town to shut off its phones and redirect callers to voicemail during tax season, and Boms closed office doors to protect staff handling tax payments.¹⁶ Boms said he intended to file a formal complaint and asked, “What’s to stop one of those crazies to come down with a shotgun?”

Where the Law Stands

Warmus’s activities operate within recognized but limited constitutional ground. New York Civil Rights Law Section 79-p protects the right of bystanders to record law enforcement so long as they do not interfere with police activity. The state’s Open Meetings Law permits the public to record open government meetings as long as the recording is not “obtrusive,” but that statute does not reach day-to-day operations in town halls.¹⁷

Courts have recognized that recording government activity is protected under the First Amendment and that the right does not depend on being a professional journalist. Interior spaces of government buildings, however, can be classified as “nonpublic forums,” where municipalities may enforce content-neutral, uniformly applied restrictions on behavior, including recording. A clerk’s office is not legally the same as a public sidewalk, and municipalities with formal written recording policies and trained staff tend to fare better when auditors arrive.¹⁷

The Supreme Court’s March 2026 decision in Zorn v. Linton may further shape these disputes. In that 6-3 ruling, the Court held that a police officer was entitled to qualified immunity after using a pain-compliance wristlock to remove a passively resisting protester from a state capitol building, finding that no prior case had “clearly established” such conduct as unconstitutional under the specific facts. The ruling sets a high bar for plaintiffs suing officers over physical removal from government buildings, and the court in Warmus’s pending Lockport suit has asked both sides to brief its implications.¹⁸

1
WIVB. Alden Man First WNYer Jail Time for Actions in Jan 6 Attack Sentenced to 45 Days Behind Bars
2
InformNNY. YouTuber and 1A Auditor Says First Amendment Rights on the Line
3
NBC News. Man Charged in Capitol Riot After Allegedly Showing Video to Dentist
4
George Washington University Program on Extremism. Daniel Warmus Statement of Facts
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CourtListener. United States v. Warmus
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Daily Freeman. Incident at Hurley Town Hall Leads to Threats, Supervisor Says
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WIVB. How First Amendment Auditors Target Public Servants for Viral Videos
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The Overlook News. Hurley Officials Receive Threats After YouTube Audit Confrontation at Town Hall
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WIVB. Judge: Man Who Was Convicted for Jan 6 Attacks Can Still Enter Government Buildings
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WIVB. Erie County Auditor Files Two Civil Rights Complaints Against Police
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Justia Dockets. Warmus v. Town of Hamburg et al
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WIVB. Harassment Charges Dismissed Against First Amendment Auditor
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PACER Monitor. Warmus v. Tarnowski et al
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East Aurora NY. Court Documents Filed Against East Aurora
15
Hudson Valley One. Confrontation Between YouTuber and Hurley Supervisor Viewed by Tens of Thousands
16
Kingston Wire. Cops Intervene When First Amendment Auditor Confronts Hurley Officials
17
New York State Bar Association. The Evolving Scope of the First Amendment in Municipal Law
18
SCOTUSblog. Zorn v. Linton