The FBI arrested a Waterford man Thursday and charged him in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
James Roe Cleary, 56, is charged with a felony offense of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder. He is also charged with misdemeanor offenses of simple assault, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
According to federal prosecutors, Cleary was identified in open-source and video footage near the opening of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cleary moved towards the mouth of the tunnel as police guarding the tunnel clashed with rioters. He was seen on video twice making a swiping motion at the head of a police officer, according to court documents.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
He was also seen on video at one point climbing over a rioter and a police officer who were on the ground and grabbing a baton that he handed to another rioter, prosecutors allege.
Authorities say Cleary also pulled two rioters from the mayhem before he moved away from the tunnel and stood alongside the Capitol building beneath a window as others began to break the glass.
The FBI began investigating Cleary in June 2022 after getting a tip from someone who worked with him in the New Haven area. The tipster told agents that Cleary had shared an image with a group of people that showed him under the Capitol window another person smashed the glass.
Local
Cleary was also featured on the Sedition Hunters website. The group has used open-source material to highlight and help identify those who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Cleary is featured on the site under the hashtag #littlebrownbeard.
According to federal prosecutors, Cleary showed up at the Waterford Police Department on June 16, 2023 to turn himself in and said he had been waiting to be arrested for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. He acknowledged that he was the one in the Sedition Hunters photos identified as "little brown beard," they said.
The FBI interviewed Cleary, who told them he traveled to Washington, D.C. with his wife on Jan. 6, 2021 and that he was at the Capitol's west front that afternoon. He told the agents the crowd was initially peaceful except for a couple of people breaking windows, and that he witnessed police officers being violent to people in the crowd, according to court documents.
Cleary will make his first court appearance in Connecticut, but it was not clear when that appearance would take place.
He is the ninth person from Connecticut charged by federal authorities in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
