Feds Charge 5 With Conspiracy In Connection With Capitol Riot

Washington, DC – Federal authorities arrested five people who they claim have connections to the Proud Boys on conspiracy charges on Thursday for their role in the Capitol riot.

All five stand accused of acting in concert with each other to prevent police officers at the Capitol from controlling the rioters and of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress on Jan. 6, CNBC reported.

The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed the charging documents on Feb. 11 and announced that William Chrestman, Christopher Kuehne, Louis Enrique Colon, Felicia Konold, and Cory Konold had been arrested.

Chrestman, Kuehne, and Colon were all taken into custody near Kansas City, Missouri, CNBC reported.

Felicia and Cory Konold, who are siblings, were arrested in Arizona.

Four of the five defendants – with the exception of Chrestman – are charged in a joint conspiracy filing, according to CNN.

Chrestman is charged separately with conspiracy but was grouped together with the other four defendants in an affidavit sworn out by a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent.

The defendants have been charged with conspiracy, civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering restricted grounds, and disorderly conduct on the U.S. Capitol grounds, CNBC reported.

Chrestman is also facing an additional charge of threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer.

The criminal complaint allowed that “there may be more persons involved in this particular conspiracy” than the first five charged, and said “the investigation is ongoing,” according to CNBC.

The complaint alleged that the five defendants “not only moved closely to each other in proximity, but also appeared to gesture and communicate to one another both before and while inside the Capitol in an apparent effort to coordinate their efforts.”

The charging documents do not accuse any of the five people charged with being a member of the far-right Proud Boys but noted they were all seen in close proximity to members of that group during the Capitol riot, CNBC reported.

Chrestman and Felicia Konold were featured in videos of Jan. 6 marching down Constitution Avenue to the U.S. Capitol with a group of Proud Boys who have already been charged with riot-related offenses.

They chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” as they marched, a mantra made popular by Black Lives Matter during the protests in 2020.

Charging documents also said that Chrestman was seen on video interacting and talking with Proud Boys near the Capitol building before it was breached, CNBC reported.

Prosecutors said that Felicia Konold posted a video to her Snapchat that claimed she had been “recruited into a f–king chapter from Kansas City” and displayed a challenge coin that “appears to have markings that designate it as belonging to the Kansas City Proud Boys.”

The affidavit accused Kuehne of carrying rolls of orange tape during the riot that were “strategically worn by each of the subjects as well as others in the crowd,” CNN reported.

“Based on my training and experience, your affiant believes the use of orange tape by multiple members in the crowd was a mark that was intended to identify persons for a particular purpose,” the FBI agent wrote. “The intent and purpose of this identifying tape remains under investigation.”

The charging document alleged that the five people stayed close to each other inside the Capitol building and used hand signals “to coordinate their efforts,” CNN reported.

The complaint said that four of the five people who were charged in the first round of conspiracy charges were seen on video stopping police from lowering metal security gates during the Capitol riot.

Court documents included a picture of Felicia Konold holding up one of the barriers with her hand, CNN reported.

The complaint said the Kuehne put a podium in the tracks of another barrier to prevent it from descending to the ground.