September 20, 2024 |
Photo – August Garcia – Courtesy US District Court document
A Laramie man has been arrested on charges related to his alleged conduct nearly four years ago during breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
August Garcia, aged 30, was arrested Monday in Cheyenne by the FBI. During his initial appearance in U.S. District Court, Garcia was charged with felony assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and obstruction of law enforcement in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia.
In addition to the felony charges, Garcia was charged with misdemeanor entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence; disorderly conduct, physical violence, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
According to a news release from the Biden Administration’s Justice Department, Garcia joined the mob that broke into the Capitol and overwhelmed police on Jan. 6, 2021. The mob disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress, which was convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
The FBI received a tip from a known source who provided images of Garcia and could allegedly identify him through open-source research, according to the complaint and arrest warrant.
The FBI has estimated that around 2,000 people took part in alleged criminal acts on Jan. 6. At the current pace of arrests, the government appears unlikely to charge all of those individuals before the statute of limitations lapses. on Jan. 5, 2026. Through September of this year, nearly 1,500 charges have been filed.
Only 291 have completed their trials, with 64 percent of those receiving prison time. The number of convictions stands at 162. Three have been acquitted of their charges. 12 of the cases have been dismissed.
With the presidential election looming and time running out on prosecutors, 13 arrests have been made across the United States this month in connection with the incident at the U.S. Capitol, including Garcia, who would have been 26-years old at the time.
According to open-source video, Garcia is seen watching another man—who has not been identified—smash open strike the Parliamentarian Door.
Garcia then congratulates the unidentified man—possibly a federal agent—who breached the door and then holds the door open for others to enter.
Garcia was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol at approximately 2:42 p.m. Video footage also shows Garcia in other areas of the Capitol, spending about 29 minutes inside the building.
According to court filings, Garcia’s case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Garcia is one of 1,504 individuals from 50 states who have been charged since Jan. 6, 2021, with various crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol.
