Crawford County man faces riot counts
Facebook posts lead FBI to file 3 charges
A Crawford County man has been charged with illegally entering the Capitol Building and other offenses in connection to the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington.
Jeremy J. Vorous, of Venango, faces federal counts of entering a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of an official proceeding.
In charging documents, FBI agents said they received screenshots of Mr. Vorous’ Facebook profile where he said he was inside the Capitol and then wrote, “Bout to rush in again diff door.”
Another Facebook comment posted by Mr. Vorous, seemingly in response to allegations that the Capitol riot was staged, has a photo of him in the Capitol Crypt and says, “[D]oes that look staged to you.”
He also alleged in that comment that he was sprayed with chemical irritant and that he saw the body of Ashli Babbitt, the pro-Trump rioter who was
killed during the storming of the Capitol. “[T]he dead girl was 10ft from me,” Mr. Vorous wrote on social media.
“In the photo, Vorous is depicted wearing a dark long-sleeved shirt with ‘NOT TODAY LIBERAL’ in white letters on the front and holding a red, white and blue cowboy-style hat,” the charging documents read.
Another photo shows the man in front of a statue with a comment that reads, “We will take what we want.”
When FBI agents interviewed him, Mr. Vorous admitted to being in the Capitol but denied going with the intention of committing violence.
Mr. Vorous “said that he believes someone had an agenda and got people to do things they had no intention of doing otherwise trying to make them look like terrorists,” FBI Agent Peter W. Wall wrote in the charging documents.
He told agents that he asked a police officer for a selfie, and the officer took his phone and told him to pose in front of a statue instead. Additionally, he claimed two officers asked him if he needed medical assistance while he washing his eyes out.
“Law enforcement, during reviews of videos, has been unable to corroborate Vorous’ statements about police officers taking photos,” Agent Wall wrote.
Other videos taken after Mr. Vorous exited the building show him yelling at police officers, calling them “cowards” and saying they
were “preventing me from getting into my house,” the charging documents read.
A YouTube livestream shows the man saying he was maced and shot with pepper balls.
On Jan. 10, Mr. Vorous
called the FBI to report on himself, and he “said that he absolutely did not participate in the rioting or take anything,” Agent Wall wrote.
Mr. Vorous is scheduled
to have a preliminary
hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo on April 1 at 2 p.m.