A Beaumont man and Federal Aviation Administration employee who subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory is facing federal charges after allegedly confessing to taking part in the U.S. Capitol breech, according to court documents.
In an interview with FBI agents last week, Kevin Strong, 44, reportedly confessed to being inside the Capitol and taking a selfie in front of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6, providing agents with photos and videos he took that day, according to a recently unsealed affidavit.
FBI agents also allegedly seized two guns from his Beaumont home that belonged to his uncle.
Strong told FBI agents that he had gone to Washington, D.C., to see President Donald Trump speak and to walk in the “Million MAGA march” but that he had not caused any damage or attacked law enforcement officers.
Strong, who worked for the FAA in San Bernardino, had been under investigation by the FBI prior to the violent riots at the Capitol, which left five people dead, according to the FBI affidavit.
The agency had begun looking into Strong a week before the Capitol siege after receiving a tip that he “had been showing signs of behavioral changes over the last few months including stockpiling items and telling others to get ready for marshal law, rioting, and protesting,” the FBI affidavit said.
The witness told FBI agents that Strong had claimed World War III was going to begin on Jan. 6 and that QAnon, a fringe group of right-wing conspiracy theorists, would cover the cost of a truck he had recently purchased.
The witness also told investigators Strong had been promoting the social media platform Parler as a place to get information and that he had hung a flag outside his home displaying “WW1WGA,” a QAnon slogan standing for “Where We Go One, We Go All.”
Despite being under investigation, Strong traveled to Washington, D.C., and appeared on a news broadcast during the riot, where he was spotted inside the Capitol by his co-workers, according to court documents.
The next day, a co-worker contacted the FAA's internal investigations department, which then notified the FBI that Strong had taken part in the Capitol siege. Strong surrendered Friday and appeared in a federal court in Riverside, where a judge ordered him held on $50,000 bond, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.
He was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, entering or remaining in a restricted area and being disorderly or disruptive in a restricted area.
Eimiller said Strong was transferred to San Bernardino County's West Valley Detention Center on Friday night, where, according to inmate records, he remained behind bars.
