Former SLC Police Officer Arrested In Connection To US Capitol Insurrection

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Federal agents said they have arrested a former Salt Lake City police officer in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Michael Lee Hardin, 50, of Kaysville, was taken into custody Wednesday without incident, according to a news release from the FBI.

KSL NewsRadio confirmed Hardin retired from the Salt Lake City Police Department in 2017.

Hardin was booked into the Davis County Jail on federal charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.  

A federal court document said the FBI received several tips that Hardin was at the Capitol on Jan. 6. One tipster said Hardin was a friend and former financial advisor and Hardin sent him several texts.

According to court documents, the texts read, “’We stormed the Capitol, I am in here now!’; ‘I know you don’t like Trump, but He is the rightful President!’ and ‘We will return until we win!’”

Another tipster told the FBI that Hardin was a friend of 20 years texted a photo of him standing next to a bust of Abraham Lincoln inside “what appears to be the Capitol Crypt.”

Hardin is the second Utahn arrested for storming the Capitol.

John Sullivan, 26, of Sandy, was arrested in January.

Sullivan told federal agents he was at the Capitol only to document the event. He faces federal charges that include violent entry in a restricted building and disorderly conduct.