Eduardo Nicolas Alvear Gonzalez has been arrested in Virginia after the FBI said he bragged online about smoking marijuana inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A judge Friday ordered he remain detained.
Mr. Gonzalez, of Ventura, California, was arrested Monday, weeks after landing on the radar of the FBI, though the federal case against him was not made public until the eve of his court appearance.
The FBI was notified on Jan. 20, two weeks after the Capitol was stormed, by a relative of Mr. Gonzalez who recognized him among the mobs involved, an FBI special agent said in a court filing.
In a court document filed Jan. 31, the FBI agent said the family member identified Mr. Gonzalez in publicly available YouTube videos that showed him smoking marijuana inside the Capitol Rotunda.
One of the videos, aptly entitled “The Capitol Rotunda Doobie Smoker explains why he did it,” showed a person alleged to be Mr. Gonzalez being asked to explain why he is smoking weed in the Capitol. “Freedom,” the person replies.
Along with the YouTube footage, the FBI cited other videos uploaded to the internet allegedly showing Mr. Gonzalez — recognizable by his beard, hat, fanny pack, backpack and American flag pants — smoking marijuana inside.
Indeed, the FBI said that additional witnesses provided investigators with a video that Mr. Gonzalez filmed and broadcast online in which he narrated images and videos showing him in the Capitol.
At one point in the over hour-long video, the FBI agent said, Mr. Gonzalez showed viewers a clip, “where he pans the camera to himself in the Capitol Rotunda and yells, ’time to smoke weed in here!’”
“Here it is, me blazing up at the Capitol,” Mr. Gonzalez said at one point during the video, the FBI agent wrote in a statement of facts filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Mr. Gonzalez told viewers that he smoked three joints during the rally held in support of former President Donald Trump shortly before the Capitol was stormed by his supporters, the FBI agent added.
Once inside the Capitol, Mr. Gonzalez said that he discovered that he had another eight joints, rolled and ready to be smoked, and started to hand some out, the agent added.
In the court filing, the FBI agent said investigators determined through records that Mr. Gonzalez had rented a residence in Alexandria, Virginia, near D.C., for the entire month of January.
Mr. Gonzalez was scheduled to fly to California on Feb. 1, the agent added. But he never boarded his flight and instead wound up in Virginia Beach, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Bosse said Friday.
During a virtual detention hearing in federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, Mr. Bosse said that authorities ultimately found Mr. Gonzalez despite investigative obstacles encountered along the way.
Mr. Gonzalez, 32, a native of Venezuela with no fixed address, recently cut off his cell service, effectively denying investigators the ability to find him through his phone provider, said Mr. Bosse.
And when investigators determined where Mr. Gonzalez was staying in Virginia Beach, he hid in a closet when police came to the door, Mr. Bosse added.
Nonetheless, Mr. Gonzalez remained active online, the prosecutor said. Mr. Gonzalez discussed hiding in the closet during an internet video that he broadcast later that day, Mr. Bosse said.
During the hearing, Mr. Bosse described Mr. Gonzalez as a follower of several conspiracy theories, including QAnon. Mr. Gonzalez also believes in the “flat-Earth” theory and that the “Smithsonian Institution is hiding evidence of giants,” Mr. Bosse added.
Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard ruled at the end of the hearing that Mr. Gonzalez should remain detained, agreeing with the government that he is a flight risk and possibly dangerous. He agreed with the defense that merely believing in conspiracy theories is not a crime, however.
Prosecutors have charged Mr. Gonzalez with four misdemeanors related to the events of Jan. 6., including trespassing on Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct therein.
Mr. Gonzalez will be transferred to D.C., where his future court dates will take place, the magistrate added. None are currently scheduled.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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