A Riverside County man, a Federal Aviation Administration employee who subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory, is facing federal charges Saturday after allegedly confessing to taking part in the U.S. Capitol breech, according to court documents.
In an interview with FBI agents last week, Kevin Strong, 44, reportedly confessed to being inside the Capitol and taking a selfie in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6.
He provided agents with photos and videos he had taken that day, according to a recently `unsealed affidavit.
He faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, entering or remaining in a restricted area and being disorderly or disruptive in a restricted area.
FBI agents also seized two guns from his Beaumont home that allegedly belonged to his uncle.
Strong told FBI agents that he had gone to Washington, D.C., to see President Donald Trump speak and to walk in the “Million MAGA march.” He said that he had not caused any damage or attacked law enforcement officers.
Strong, who worked for the FAA in San Bernardino, had been under investigation by the FBI prior to the violent riots at the Capitol, which left five people dead, according to the FBI affidavit.
The agency had begun looking into Strong a week before the Capitol siege after receiving a tip that he “had been showing signs of behavioral changes over the last few months including stockpiling items and telling others to get ready for martial law, rioting, and protesting,” the FBI affidavit said.
The witness told FBI agents that Strong had claimed that World War III was going to begin on Jan. 6 and that QAnon, a fringe group of right-wing conspiracy theorists, would cover the cost of a truck he had recently purchased.
The witness also told investigators that Strong had been promoting the social media platform Parler as a place to get information and that he had hung a flag outside his home displaying “WW1WGA,” a QAnon slogan standing for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”
Despite being under investigation, Strong traveled to Washington, D.C., and appeared on a news broadcast during the riots, where he was spotted inside the Capitol by his co-workers, according to court documents.
The next day, a co-worker contacted the FAA’s internal investigations department, which notified the FBI that Strong had taken part in the siege.
Strong surrendered on Friday and appeared in a federal court in Riverside, where a judge ordered him held on $50,000 bond, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.
Eimiller said Strong was transferred to San Bernardino County’s West Valley Detention Center on Friday night, where, according to inmate records, he remained behind bars.