TOLEDO, Ohio — Eight months after the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, four Lucas County residents are now charged with taking part in the riots.
Jodi Lynn Wilson and Cole Temple, a mother and son from Swanton, and Gabriel Burress and Madison Pettit, a couple from Swanton, were charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The cases will be transferred to a Washington, D.C., federal court.
According to court documents, Wilson and Temple are charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, demonstrating in a U.S. Capitol building and two counts of disorderly conduct. Pettit and Burress face similar charges.
The four have been ordered not to talk about the case and left their hearing on Aug. 25 without entering a plea.
Former President Trump is threatening to invoke executive privilege to block lawmakers who are investigating the riots from getting some government documents.
The next hearing is in October.
WILSON/TEMPLE CASE
An affidavit signed by FBI Special Agent Ian Moore lays out the case against Wilson and Temple, noting that the FBI investigation drew on photos and videos from Temple's Snapchat account posted during the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Those photos and videos contained captions of the actions, including “[Expletive]'s going down” and “Go ahead, say some [expletive].” A portion of this video appears to show Temple inside of the U.S. Capitol, filming himself and yelling “just broke in this b****.”
The FBI used the photos and videos from Temple's Snapchat account to compare with surveillance footage from the Capitol that day. Agent Moore located footage from two security cameras providing coverage of the interior of the U.S. Capitol building that show individuals matching Wilson and Temple's appearance inside the Capitol from approximately 3:01 p.m. to 3:18 p.m. In the footage, Wilson and Temple are seen holding up cell phones as if using them to film or photograph their surroundings.
On Aug. 12, Wilson and Temple were interviewed outside their residence in Swanton, the affidavit states. Wilson initially denied going inside the U.S. Capitol Building, but admitted that she had traveled to Washington, D.C., and was outside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
After agents showed her surveillance photographs of her inside the building, Wilson stated that police officers had “held the door open for (her)” and that an officer had “told me that’s what I could do, and I went in, and that’s all that I did.”
READ THE FULL FBI AFFIDAVIT (WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE)
Temple, when separately interviewed on Aug. 12, stated that he and his mother traveled to Washington to attend what he termed a protest at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6. He stated that while outside the Capitol Building, he saw protestors pushing police barricades, saw the police deploy tear gas against the protesters, and that he then walked up the steps to the Capitol Building.
Temple said that he entered the building with the second wave of protesters to enter. He said that when he entered, it appeared as though law enforcement allowed people inside.
Temple said that he remained inside for roughly 10 or more minutes before law enforcement wearing riot gear were able to shepherd him and his group out of the building. He further admitted posting photos and videos of himself to Snapchat while inside the building.
The federal complaint and arrest warrant against Wilson and Temple was filed on Wednesday and assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui.
BURRESS/PETTIT CASE
According to the FBI affidavit in the Burress/Pettit case, an online tip led the agency to the Swanton pair. The affidavit says the FBI compared known photographs of Pettit and Burress against images and video captured at the Capitol and located and viewed a video that appears to have been taken from a security camera located within the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Footage from two security cameras providing coverage of the interior of the Capitol building from approximately 3:01-3:04 p.m. depicts individuals that match the appearance of Pettit and Burress inside the U.S. Capitol building. The individuals matching the appearance of Pettit and Burress are observed entering the U.S. Capitol from an exterior door at approximately 3:02-3:03 p.m.
On Aug. 12, both Burress and Pettis were interviewed outside their residence in Swanton. Burress identified himself and Pettit in pictures shown to him; these pictures were still frames taken from CCTV video footage from the interior of the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
He then admitted traveling to the Capitol with Pettit and two other individuals. Burress stated that he heard others yelling that they were charging the building. He further said he followed the crowd to the steps of the U.S. Capitol and was pushed into the building by the crowd behind him. He said he was inside the U.S. Capitol Building for approximately 10 minutes.
Pettit likewise identified herself and Burress in pictures shown to her and admitted entering the building with a crowd of individuals after gates in front of them, which had been holding the protesters back, were removed. She indicated that she heard alarms go off and felt pepper spray in her lungs. She stated she was inside the U.S. Capitol Building for 10-15 minutes.
READ THE FULL FBI AFFIDAVIT
Nearly 600 people have been accused of taking part in the unlawful events that followed former President Donald Trump’s "Stop the Steal" gathering that rallied his supporters.
At least nine people who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 died during or after the rioting, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed after he was sprayed by rioters with a chemical irritant. Four other police officers have died by suicide, including two Metropolitan Police officers who were found dead within the past month.
Police shot and killed a woman, Ashli Babbitt, who was part of a group of people trying to beat down the doors of the House chamber. Three other Trump supporters who died had suffered medical emergencies.
More than 560 people have been charged with federal crimes, and authorities are still searching for hundreds more. At least 165 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or Capitol employees, including more than 50 people charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer, the Justice Department said in July.
UPDATE: This story has been updated with Cole Temple's correct name.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.