Two New England residents have been arrested for their roles in the storming of the U.S. Capitol last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
Authorities arrested 37-year-old Kyle Fitzsimons of Lebanon, Maine, and 33-year-old Brian McCreary of North Adams, Massachusetts, according to the FBI Boston Division.
Both men were taken into custody on warrants from the United States Court of the District of Columbia.
McCreary is charged with three counts of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and two counts of knowingly entering in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority.
Charges against Fitzsimons include assault on a federal officer, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and certain acts during a civil disorder.
In the FBI’s complaint against Fitzsimons, agents refer to a YouTube video of a Lebanon, Maine, Select Board meeting in which they said Fitzsimons called in by phone to give an eyewitness account of the riot.
Meeting minutes published on the town’s website confirm that account of the call.
The FBI also included screenshots of surveillance video they said show Fitzsimons "reaching and grabbing at officers,” adding that he “charged at the line of officers.”
According to counterterrorism security analyst Todd McGhee, the FBI is likely pouring through a vast amount of these types of images using facial recognition software in order to identify people like Fitzsimons.
“If there’s a decent still image taken from video, that imaging can be measured against the DMV and can reveal, maybe 100 or so people that fit that image,” McGhee said.
“As the investigation goes on, they’ll leverage that video and information and start to connect the dots,” he said.
McGhee also believes the FBI is likely to be getting names of potential suspects from confessions of other people who have been arrested in connection with the riot, and the “digital footprint” left behind by the rioters.
Along with the FBI’s investigation into Fitzsimons, Portland police say they have identified him as a person of interest in a suspicious package case.
Roughly two weeks ago, sections of Portland streets were closed after a package of feathers was left with a spray-painted message at the Portland Museum of Art in Congress Square.
Portland police have not charged Fitzsimons in relation to that case as of Friday.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 when Congress was finalizing the victory of President Joe Biden. Trump repeatedly made meritless claims that the election was stolen through widespread voter fraud.
Five people, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, died in the riots.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection. His trial in the Senate begins next week.
The FBI Boston Division, which operates in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, says it has arrested five people in connection with the Capitol riots.
The cases against Fitzsimons and McCreary are being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI said. It was not immediately clear if either defendant had an attorney.
