2 Georgia men arrested, accused of roles in US Capitol riot
MILTON, Ga. (AP) — Two additional Georgia men have been arrested on criminal charges related to alleged acts committed during the attack on the U.S. Capitol last month, authorities said.
Benjamin Harry Torre, 23, of Dawsonville, was arrested by federal agents in Atlanta on Tuesday and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds in connection with the Jan. 6 riots, according to a statement from the FBI.
Charging documents alleged he admitted to investigators that he climbed through a broken window to enter the Capitol building and also entered the office of Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Torre, who described himself as a “patriot” in an interview with federal authorities, said he drove to Washington on Jan. 4 with his parents and later attended a rally in support of former President Donald Trump, according to the documents. Torre was captured in images from the insurrection and was turned in by an unidentified acquaintance.
Separately, Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, of Milton, was arrested Saturday and accused of assaulting a federal officer. He faces several charges related to his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, including obstruction of an official proceeding and violent entry, news outlets reported.
An FBI criminal complaint said authorities received two tips identifying Cua as one of the people seen in “persons of interest” posters, news outlets reported.
One tip was received from a Milton police officer who said they’ve interacted with Cua before and recognized his tan-trimmed jean jacket, the complaint said. The officer later gave the FBI screenshots of Cua’s social media accounts where the teen wrote that he “stormed” the Capitol with others who “physically fought our way in,” the complaint said.
The FBI said surveillance cameras and video from The New Yorker show Cua clad in the jean jacket roaming the Senate floor and getting into a “physical altercation” with a United States Capitol Police plain clothes officer, who was armed with a baton. Cua was later seen walking down a hallway “twirling a baton in his right hand” as he tried to open a door, the complaint said.
The second tip led to Cua’s Parler account where he also discussed storming the Capitol.
It’s unclear whether Cua or Torre had attorneys who could comment for them.
The two are the latest Georgians to be arrested and are among more than 200 others charged so far in the siege on the Capitol led by supporters of President Donald Trump, where five were killed including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
Attorney William McCall Calhoun Jr., 57, of Americus was charged last month with violent entry or disorderly conduct, and entering a restricted building. A second Georgia man, 58-year-old Michael Shane Daughtry of Pelham, was also charged in the riot with illegally entering a restricted building or grounds.