- Larry Rendell Brock of Texas and Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee were federally charged after being pictured carrying zip tie-like restraints into the Capitol building during last week's riot, officials said.
- The US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement that they were each charged with ne count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Brock was arrested in Texas and Munchel was arrested in Tennessee on Sunday.
Two pro-Trump rioters who were seen carrying zip tie-style restraints while storming the US Capitol building last week have been charged with federal crimes.
Larry Rendell Brock of Texas and Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee were charged on Sunday each with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement.
Brock and Munchel were pictured holding several plastic restraints while walking through the Senate chamber on Wednesday.
In photos from the riot, Brock wore a green helmet, tactical vest, and a camouflage jacket, and also displayed an old military patch which helped investigators identify him, prosecutors said.
According to an affidavit filed in court, prosecutors say Brock was first identified by his ex-wife, who had called the FBI national Threat Operations Center to report she saw photos of him inside the Capitol building, and she recognized a patch he was wearing.
Another witness who emailed the FBI about Brock said: "It looks like him and he has pilot wings on his chest in this picture. He was an A-10 pilot."
It's unclear how the FBI identified Munchel, though. John Scott-Railton from Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said on Twitter that in his own search for Munchel, he used social media and video clues to find him.
Munchel, who during the riot had cell phone mounted to his chest facing outward, likely to record events, told the Times of London before his arrest that bringing the restraints into the Capitol was a "kind of flexing of the muscles."
"The point of getting inside the building is to show them that we can, and we will," he said.
He also said that that he stormed the Capitol with his 57-year-old mother, Lisa Eisenhart, who he had driven to Washington, DC, with from Nashville.
"We wanted to show that we're willing to rise up, band together and fight if necessary. Same as our forefathers, who established this country in 1776. It was a kind of flexing of muscles," he told the Times.
Munchel is being held at the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in Nashville, Tennessee.
Brock was arrested in Texas, though it's not immediately known where he's being held.
He told the New Yorker before his arrest that he was an Air Force veteran, and he acknowledged entering the Capitol building.
Brock and Munchel are among dozens of people the FBI have arrested since Wednesday's insurrection at the Capitol, in which five people died, including a
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