A Blue Earth, Minn., man appeared in court Wednesday on charges that he was at the front of the crowd with other supporters of President Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol nearly three years ago.
A criminal complaint, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia is laden with photographs that prosecutors say show Paul Orta Jr. tossing aside police barricades, rushing toward a line of officers and going into restricted areas of the Capitol as the House of Representatives was certifying Joe Biden's election victory over Trump.
Following his appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Orta was released on a personal recognizance bond ahead of a court hearing in Washington on Nov. 28. He was released on condition that he not leave Minnesota except for court appearances in Washington.
Orta, 34, is charged with one felony count of obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder, as well as misdemeanor counts related to entry into restricted areas. Police in Blue Earth arrested Orta on Tuesday and booked him into the Faribault County jail.
Orta saw himself in a photo from the insurrection that the FBI posted online, according to the complaint, and went to the agency's Minneapolis field office on Jan. 25, 2021, to acknowledge his participation in the unrest.
He told FBI agents he was going to them because "he wanted to do the right thing," the complaint noted. While he admitted going past the "first barrier," he denied breaching the "second barrier" or entering the Capitol itself, the complaint said.
The complaint doesn't explain why the charges were not filed until nearly three years after he contacted the FBI.
Apartment neighbors of Orta's in Blue Earth described him as a pleasant man with whom they'd occasionally chat in passing but said politics never came up.
Connie Hedland, who has lived across the hall from Orta for a couple years, said she's noticed "he's been gone a lot lately." Orta lived alone and was "friendly and all that," she said. "He did keep very much to himself."
Kevin Hercula said Orta works at the Kerry Ingredients & Flavours cereal breakfast food plant in Blue Earth. He said he found Orta to be "a nice man. We had casual conversations."
According to the charges:
Orta arrived in a Washington suburb on Jan. 5, 2021, aboard a privately owned school bus sporting Trump 2020 graffiti that drew the attention of "a concerned citizen" who notified police. Officers pulled over the bus and determined its North Carolina registration had expired.
Orta and three others on the bus were checked for weapons and released. Soon afterward, however, the bus was stopped in Washington near the Capitol Mall by police, who searched the vehicle and found two guns and ammunition. The driver was arrested on weapons charges.
Video from police body-worn cameras and other sources show Orta throwing a security barricade aside and "beckoning the remaining crowd beyond the perimeter to move forward," the charges read. It was about then that the crowd began moving onto the Capitol grounds, overwhelming the officers and sending them into retreat.
Orta and others pushed ahead toward the Capitol and began pulling away metal bike racks that the police were using to keep the intruders at bay. Orta made it to the top of a concrete wall, where he stood with fist raised.
Some among those in the crowd broke into the building, spawning the destructive mayhem that sent members of Congress among others to run for their lives. The certification proceedings were halted but ultimately carried out later that day.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,200 people have been charged in connection with the breach of the Capitol, including more than 400 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
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