A Massachusetts man has been charged for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced Wednesday.
FBI Boston special agents arrested Thomas J. Method, 57, on Wednesday. Investigators first identified Method as a possible participant based on cell phone data. They later found CCTV footage of him at the Capitol, and also recovered photos he took himself while inside the rotunda that day.
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Court documents state that Method admitted to attending former President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally and then marching to the Capitol. He also admitted to entering the building, but told investigators that he thought it was being opened up to the public and that if he knew violence would occur, he would not have gone.
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However, investigators allege that Method recorded a video manifesto on Jan. 5, 2021, while traveling from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. In it, he states, “Hopefully the strength in numbers and this movement will get more Senators on board, and we can overthrow this . . . . I don’t care what happens as long as Trump maintains his presidency. I have a feeling it’s going to be mayhem, chaos, and pandemonium.”
Method is charged with a felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding as well as several misdemeanor offenses, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
He is the 36th person to be arrested by FBI Boston, which covers Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, as part of the ongoing investigations into the Jan. 6 riot.
