Five Capitol rioters were recently arrested after investigators linked members of the group to each other via surveillance footage and other digital records, including transaction histories on the payment application Venmo.
The newly charged individuals include Virginia man Joseph Brody, Maryland man Paul Lovley, New York man Jon Lizak, Pennsylvania’s Thomas Carey, and Gabriel Chase, who’s a resident of Florida. Brody’s charges include serious felonies that could result in substantial jail-time if found guilty. The list features charges of assault on law enforcement, obstruction of an official proceeding, and interference with police during a civil disorder, which together could land Brody with up to decades in jail if convicted, although a plea deal could shorten what he is facing. The five of them went into the Capitol together, where they entered Nancy Pelosi’s office. Previously, staff members for Pelosi have provided testimonials about hiding out and fearing for their lives as riot participants rampaged through the premises. Brody, meanwhile, was also among the members of the mob who entered the floor of the Senate, where he captured photos and/or video.
Outside the Capitol, the five individuals charged together in the new indictment went to the north side of the building, where Brody — who was wearing a suit — participated in an assault on police, helping push a metal barricade against an officer, who was knocked backwards. “Brody’s associates watched as he assaulted this law enforcement officer,” a court filing says. “The group then watched the destruction of media equipment, which had been surrounded by metal barricades.” A couple of them also participated in that destruction, with Chase seemingly stealing a pair of headphones, per the filing. Lovley, meanwhile, filmed the scene. All five of these newly charged riot participants are in their 20s, and NBC identified the group as connected to the America First movement, whose adherents are sometimes called Groypers. It’s the America First movement that was behind a white nationalism-promoting conference in Orlando, Florida — the America First Political Action Conference — where Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spoke.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has also been involved in that conference, which is popular among younger extremists. In the course of identifying Brody, investigators used available info included Venmo records covering a pizza order members of the group made on January 5. Investigators found that a PayPal account associated with Lovley made a Domino’s Pizza order in Maryland on January 5, after which a Venmo account associated with him received payments from accounts identified by names eventually ID’ed as fellow Capitol riot participants. Lovley, the court filing notes, also engaged in financial transactions of this variety with Brody, whose phone number was obtained via a legal notice to Venmo. Amid a review of records using his info, investigators found Brody in Virginia, comparing his appearance to available media content documenting the riot and discovering a match. Investigators also conducted surveillance, some of which took place earlier this very month.
In other words, the guy at the Capitol in a suit — for some reason — was connected to the “Brody” who engaged in online financial transactions with fellow rioter Paul Lovley. Investigators found Lovley, whose financial history including the pizza order connected him with and led agents towards other rioters, after issuing legal demands to telecommunications providers for records indicating what devices might have been in restricted areas at the Capitol as the riot took place.
“Additionally, the investigation has shown that [Lovley], Brody, Chase, Lizak, and Carey were associated with a group known as America First,” the filing adds, indicating that Greene — according to the Justice Department’s telling — spoke at an event put on by a group with members in the riot. “Leadership of America First has espoused a belief that they are defending against the demographic and cultural changes in America. [Lovley], Brody, Chase, and Lizak initially met at an America First event and attended subsequent events together. After meeting, they continued to communicate through a social media platform. Carey traveled with [Lovley], Chase, and Lizak and met Brody in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.”
Image: Brett Davis/ Creative Commons
