2 more Illinoisans charged with entering US Capitol during riot
A downstate couple who allegedly subscribe to the QAnon conspiracy group are the latest Illinoisans to be accused of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 mob attack.
Separately, a Chicagoarea man was ordered released on bond Friday on charges alleging he attacked National Guard troops as they tried to ward off a mob of Trump supporters during the siege three weeks ago.
Jason Gerding, 50, and Christina Gerding, 46, of Quincy, were charged Thursday in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with entering a restricted building without authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Records show they were arrested in central Illinois and released on bond conditions. They were scheduled to appear via teleconference in D.C. federal court on Tuesday.
The complaint alleged that the Gerdings were part of the mob that overran police and entered the Capitol as lawmakers were meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Photos posted to Jason Gerding’s Twitter profile showed the couple standing in front of a painting called “Declaration of Independence” that hangs in the Capitol rotunda, according to the charges. A copy of the image included in the complaint showed the two dressed in Donald Trump 2020 campaign shirts and smiling as they clasp hands over the painting.
Christina Gerding later posted the image in a Facebook chat with the caption, “Quincy made it inside,” according to the complaint.
When a Facebook user commented on the post that he hoped she was put in jail, Gerding allegedly responded, “Well since they let us inside; opened the doors for us I think I’ll be just fine.”
The complaint also alleged that Jason Gerding posted an image to his Facebook account showing a Donald Trump campaign hat atop a bust of George Washington that sits in the Capitol’s House Wing.
Social media posts by both Jason and Christina Gerding appear to show they are supporters of QAnon, which the complaint describes as a “loosely affiliated network and community of people who believe in a number of conspiracy theories.”
Meanwhile, in a federal courtroom in downstate Benton on Friday, a U.S. magistrate judge ordered a LaSalle County man, Mathew Capsel, released on bond pending charges filed in Washington alleging he was seen in TikTok videos charging at National Guard troops protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In asking for Capsel to be held without bond, prosecutors said he has a long history of ignoring court orders in other cases and violated bond in a pending domestic battery case by “traveling halfway across the country” to participate in the violence at the Capital.
“This was a very volatile situation that the defendant interjected himself in,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Bloodworth said.
Though she agreed there were “a lot of concerns” about Capsel’s background, U.S. Magistrate Judge Reona Daly ordered him released to home confinement, saying he could stay with his mother in LaSalle County and continue working while the charges were pending. He was also ordered to stay off social media.
“If you don’t follow those conditions, you will be back here and it will go differently,” Daly said.
According to federal documents, the FBI received screenshots of a Facebook page under Capsel’s nickname, Mateo Q Capsel. Witnesses reported that Capsel was “known to be violent” and was at the Capitol building when protesters and rioters got on the building before entering and had posted a video of this on his Facebook page.
Capsel, who appeared via videoconference, agreed to the terms saying at one point, “I got banned from Facebook for life.”
The 11-page complaint included photos of Capsel, who authorities say was identified partially by his face tattoo.
Documents also show screenshots from Capsel’s alleged TikTok account and video recordings posted to TikTok by a third person who also spoke to the FBI. That video shows Capsel “charging against a lined group of National Guardsman, running into their protective shields,” according to federal officials.