Suburban residents charged with entering U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6
Federal prosecutors filed charges last week against two southwest suburban residents who allegedly entered the U.S. Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Kelly Lynn Fontaine, 54, and Brian Dula, 52, of Lockport are now among more than 40 Illinois residents charged in the attack, which triggered a massive ongoing criminal investigation. The FBI was tipped off to Fontaine’s presence at the Capitol in March 2022, records show.
Fontaine and Dula were each charged Wednesday with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Defense attorneys for the pair could not be identified in court records. An FBI special agent alleged that Fontaine and Dula worked their way past the restricted perimeter around the Capitol — and a fallen bicycle rack with “Do Not Cross” tape — as they made their way toward the building. At one point, smoke could be seen coming from the area of the Senate Wing doors within their field of view, the agent alleged.
Fontaine allegedly took a photograph as protesters entered the Capitol through a door that had been forced open moments earlier, pushing officers backward. Then she and Dula allegedly entered the Capitol through the same door.
The pair walked down the north hallway of the Senate wing of the Capitol, through the lower Senate corridors, and then to the north door of the Capitol, where they exited, according to the feds. They allegedly spent 11 minutes inside the building.
During a September 2022 interview with the FBI in Romeoville, they also admitted that they entered the building, records show.