Feds charge three more Ohioans, including mother and son, in riot
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused three people, including a woman and her son, of participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Kimberly Wargo, 55, of North Olmsted and Colton Wargo, 26, of Westlake are charged with knowingly entering a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct. Another man, Justin M. Smith, 20, of Brunswick, is charged with similar crimes.
All three were released from custody after making their initial appearances in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Greenberg. Kimberly and Colton Wargo were released on an unsecured $25,000 bond. Smith was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond. Their cases were transferred to U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., for the remainder of the proceedings.
The Wargos are the first from Cuyahoga County to be charged with storming the Capitol during an attempt to
stop the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election. More than 40 others from Ohio — and more than 700 nationwide — have been charged in the wide-ranging investigation.
Both admitted to FBI agents that they went inside the Capitol during the riot, and they signed surveillance photos acknowledging the images that showed them walking through various parts of the building, according to charging documents filed in federal court.
Agents in Washington,
D.C., first honed-in on the Wargos, according to court records. They found a phone registered to Colton Wargo inside or near the Capitol during the riot.
Cleveland FBI agents took over the case, and they found images from a surveillance camera that showed Colton Wargo, donning a red Trump hat and a T-shirt with a drawing of the former president, and Kimberly Wargo, wearing an American flag shirt, walking into the building about 2:20 p.m. Jan. 6.
The pair walked into the rotunda, through hallways near the House and Senate offices and joined up with a mob of people in Statuary Hall. The mob walked upstairs to the House Gallery, according to court records.
Both told FBI agents they drove together to Washington and attended the “Save America” rally in which Trump spoke and told supporters that the election was a “fraud.” He also told the crowd: “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The Wargos marched to the Capitol, saw people going inside and joined them, they told FBI agents.
Both said they stayed inside the building for about 30 minutes. A police officer in tactical gear yelled at them to leave, and they complied, according to court records.
Smith is part of a “unidentified political belief organization,” according to court records. He walked into the Capitol carrying a flag that read “Trump 2020 The Sequel, Make Liberals Cry Again,” according to court records.