Trial for sidewalk counselor raided by the FBI set to begin this month

The trial for Mark Houck, a pro-life sidewalk counselor whose home was raided by the FBI last year, will begin on January 24th in Philadelphia, according to a press release from the Thomas More Society.

Last September, FBI agents dressed in tactical gear reportedly raided Houck’s home early in the morning, in front of his wife and children. “He opened the door with hands up, and had AR-15s in his face,” family friend and spokesman Brian Middleton said at the time, which left his children “crying and screaming” and “traumatized.”

Houck maintained a regular presence outside a Planned Parenthood facility in Philadelphia as a sidewalk counselor, and in October of 2021, this led to an altercation with an abortion facility escort. The escort reportedly frequently verbally attacked and antagonized Houck’s 12-year-old son, often while saying crude, insulting, and inappropriate things.

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“Repeatedly, Mark would tell this pro-abortion man that he did not have permission to speak to his son and please refrain from doing so. And ‘he kept doing it and kind of came into [the son’s] personal space’ obscenely ridiculing his father. At this point, ‘Mark shoved him away from his child, and the guy fell back,'” Houck’s wife told LifeSiteNews last year. “He didn’t have any injuries or anything, but he tried to sue Mark.” The lawsuit, said LifeSite, “was thrown out of court in the early summer.”

Local officials responded that day and saw no cause for an arrest. The escort filed a “private criminal complaint,” to which Houck agreed to mediation. The escort then demanded a trial, but failed to appear for each court date. After three times, the judge told the plaintiff that if he failed to appear again, the case would be dismissed, and set another trial date. Once again, the escort did not show up, and the case was thrown out.

Less than a week later, Houck received a letter notifying him he was under federal investigation. The letter told Houck to respond to the Department of Justice, which Houck’s attorney did, only to receive no response — until FBI agents raided Houck’s home. After outrage over Houck’s arrest ensued, the FBI denied having sent SWAT agents, but admitted there were 15-20 armed agents sent to his home.

Houck is being represented by the Thomas More Society, which said in a press release that attorneys are seeking a dismissal of all charges.

“The Biden administration has filed two defective and discriminatory charges against Mark Houck under the FACE Act, and both should be dismissed. Both counts allege that Mark Houck interfered with a volunteer so-called ‘escort,’ when in reality, it was that escort who initiated the incidents and wronged Mark Houck—first obstructing Mark’s sidewalk counseling and then harassing his 12-year-old son,” Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel Peter Breen said, adding, “The Department of Justice has demonstrated clear and illegal hostility to the pro-life viewpoint in its statements and enforcement decisions, running roughshod over fundamental religious freedoms and free speech rights, and bringing an illegal selective prosecution here.”