Two other real estate agents who took a private jet to Washington DC for a January 6 rally that ended in the Capitol riot were arrested.
Jason Lee Hyland, 37, of Frisco, Texas, and Katherine ‘Katie’ Schwab, 32, of Colleyville, were featured in several social media posts on the plane they shared with real estate agent Jenna Ryan, who gained attention not just for bragging. about the private flight, but also for posting a video of herself in the middle of the breach saying: “You know who to hire for your realtor!”
She and her fellow travelers face several federal charges.
Hyland and Schwab were accused on Thursday of entering or staying in a restricted building without legal authority and disorderly conduct at Capitol Grounds.
In a previous interview, Ryan suggested that Hyland and Schwab had become a couple during the trip. Hyland’s lawyer said in a lawsuit that his client was living with Schwab at the time of his recent hearing, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Hyland organized what he called the “Patriot flight” from Denton Enterprise Airport, about 45 miles north of Dallas.
“This will be historic – no matter what the outcome,” he said in a text message to the group, which included a fourth person who was not identified. He claimed to know Ryan and Schwab only through Facebook.
They posted photos of themselves on the flight and landing at Manassas Regional Airport, Virginia.
Hyland and Schwab appeared in a live video on Facebook posted by Ryan as they walked towards the Capitol, leaving the rally near the White House. He told the FBI group that he returned to the hotel after arriving at the Capitol and seeing no stage and just a food truck.
When they saw on television that the Capitol had been breached, the group took an Uber back and joined the crowd entering the building, officials said. Schwab can be seen in several surveillance photos holding his cell phone in the crowd.
Hyland said he asked a Capitol Police officer if he could enter and was told that “everyone can”. But he told the FBI that he stayed for a short time, leaving after hearing a loud noise similar to a flash bang. Hyland’s real estate license is listed in state records as “inactive”, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Schwab told investigators that she was pushed by the crowd into the building.
In a conversation that FBI agents discovered on Facebook, Schwab reportedly said that she entered the Capitol and that National Guard troops withdrew when the crowd entered.
“They didn’t fight us at all … because there was no need,” wrote Schwab, according to the criminal complaint. Referring to a woman who was shot while trying to crawl through a broken window near the town hall, Schwab continued: “After the girl was shot and killed, that’s when we started hell.”
She told the FBI that she thought Ryan’s videos made group members “mean”.
Your employer apparently agreed. The Century 21 office where she worked posted on Facebook on January 7 that she was aware of her posts. “Such conduct is not in line with our company’s policies or values. This agent is no longer associated with Century 21 Mike Bowman. “