The FBI arrested a man from Huntington Beach on Thursday who posted pictures of himself involved in the US Capitol violation on social media.
Mark Simon, who is known locally for his far-right views, was taken into custody during a dawn search of his home on federal charges of entering restricted Capitol grounds and disorderly or disturbing conduct for allegedly being part of the raid by supporters of former President Trump.
Simon is accused of being part of the group that broke into the building on January 6, trying to prevent Congress from certifying President Biden’s victory over Trump in the November elections, according to the criminal complaint. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer. More than 160 people have been indicted and hundreds more are still under investigation, according to federal officials.
Federal prosecutors say a video showed Simon walking through the “entrance to the United States Capitol building”. An FBI agent wrote in a sworn statement that a video “showed several individuals making their way to the US Capitol …. As the individual filming the video approached the door of the US Capitol, police officers inside the US Capitol could be seen trying to remove individuals from the building. “
The agent said that at one point in the video, the man later identified as Simon “turned on the camera for himself and said, ‘No Capitol baby, yeah!’ Shortly after, the individual turned the camera back on and said, ‘2021 Donald Trump!’ “
The FBI identified Simon after he was recognized by a Huntington Beach police detective in a blog post image as a “well-known activist in Huntington Beach”.
Simon, 49, was also featured in a story in the Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper, saying he participated in the rally in support of Trump and to ensure a free and fair election. He said the police started pushing against the crowd at the Capitol doors to keep them out, adding that “very little destruction” occurred considering the number of people present.
“The worst I saw was a couple of patriots on top of some kind of government vehicle – on the roof. That was it. There was no damage to the vehicle, ”said Simon in the Epoch Times.
Simon said the mainstream media is “editing photos” out of context to make protesters look more violent and destructive than they really are.
Simon is the last person in Southern California to be accused of participating in the attack on the Capitol. FBI agents swept a character team known locally for his opposition to pandemic orders and support for Trump. They include a Beverly Hills beautician, a Beverly Hills medical concierge, an aspiring actor and the grandson of the former mayor of Glendora.
Last Friday, FBI agents arrested a Federal Aviation Administration employee who lives in Beaumont on charges of participating in the siege. And on Tuesday, Victorville Academy owner Jacob Lewis, who defied the state’s pandemic restrictions by reopening his business during the closure, was arrested on charges of violent entry to the Capitol.
When FBI agents interrogated him on January 15, prosecutors say, Lewis acknowledged that he entered the Capitol, but said he was never informed that he could not be allowed to do so, despite the hundreds of police officers who struggled to keep the crowd outside. Lewis said in the interview that he was “escorted” to the building by police and denied being involved in any type of violence, according to a complaint.
On Wednesday, the FBI arrested Jeffrey Alexander Smith in Coronado on suspicion of participating in the attack. During an interview with the authorities, Smith admitted to entering the Capitol during the siege and then deleting his Instagram account, court records show.
According to prosecutors, Smith sent a message to an acquaintance: “There was no way I was going to drive 38 hours from San Diego and not go straight through the front door” of the Capitol.