FAA Employee and Snapchat Live Streamer Face Federal Charges in Capitol Siege, Justice Department Says

A Federal Aviation Administration employee and Snapchat live-streamer are facing criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S.Capitol building, according to the Justice Department, CNN reported.

Kevin Strong, 44, of Beaumont, California, has been charged with three crimes related to the attack including, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, entering or remaining in a restricted area, and being disorderly or disruptive in a restricted area, The Associated Press reported. 

He confessed to breaching the Capitol in an interview with investigators and was arrested on Friday, according to the Justice Department. He told law enforcement he hadn’t done any damage or attacked law enforcement, according to the FBI affidavit, CNN reported. 

Strong, who works as an airway transportation system specialist, is a follower of the QAnon conspiracy movement, according to court records, CNN reported.

A member of the FAA’s internal investigation branch notified the FBI that Strong had been at the Capitol, a day after the Capitol siege, according to the affidavit, AP reported.

The FAA began investigating Strong on Dec. 30, a week before the Capitol siege, after prosecutors said someone told the agency that Strong “had been showing signs of behavioral changes and over the last few months stockpiling items and telling others to get ready for martial law, rioting and protesting,” the FBI affidavit revealed, the AP reported. 

The FBI searched Strong’s home on Jan. 16 and seized two guns belonging to Strong’s uncle, multiple digital devices, and QAnon items, CNN reported.

The FAA is supporting the investigation and said in a statement on Friday that “we will take the appropriate action based on the information we have," the AP reported

Strong is currently being held on $50,000 bond, said a spokesperson for the FBI in Los Angeles, cited the AP.

Twenty-three-year-old Andrew Ericson of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was charged with two misdemeanors related to the attack. One count that included an unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, CNN reported. 

Prosecutors said Ericson reportedly live-streamed himself entering the Capitol, walking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and taking what appeared to be a beer out of a refrigerator in an office,” according to someone who knew Ericson and was identified as “witness 1,” in the court documents, CNN reported. 

Investigators were able to track down Ericson, after “witness 1” watched his live stream on Snapchat and provided his name to the FBI. Ericson was arrested Friday, according to the FBI affidavit and the Justice Department, CNN reported

Ericson has a video court appearance scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25 before Muskogee-based Magistrate Judge Kimberly E. West, according to Tulsa World News. 

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