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SALT LAKE CITY — Additional criminal charges have been filed against two Utahns accused of participating in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, federal court records show.
Brady Knowlton, 41, and Gary Wilson are each charged with theft of government property, accused of stealing an escape hood worth less than $1,000 from the Capitol building.
Escape hoods are gas-mask-like devices that help users avoid toxic chemicals for several hours. These were issued to members of Congress when they were evacuated from the Capitol on that day.
Knowlton, of St. George, was arrested in April 2021 and charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of justice/Congress.
Charging documents show that an FBI agent interviewed a tipster in St. George who identified Knowlton in a Jan. 6 photograph of three men standing outside the Capitol.
Security cameras from inside the Capitol showed that same man moving throughout the building, appearing to be holding his phone with the camera out as he entered the building, the charges allege. Later, Knowlton can allegedly be seen holding out his phone while standing in the Senate Gallery.
Wilson, of Salt Lake City, was arrested on Aug. 13, 2021, and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building; and entering or remaining in a Gallery of Congress.
Knowlton and Wilson were near each other when they both entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to charging documents.
Body camera footage from that day shows Knowlton yelling at police while Wilson was not far away, federal investigators say. Just after Knowlton and Wilson's co-defendant, a Colorado man named Patrick Montgomery, allegedly assaulted a police officer, Wilson can be seen on body camera footage talking to Montgomery.
Later, Wilson was just behind Knowlton and Montgomery as the three could be seen on security cameras walking into the Capitol, according to the charges, and the group then walked up a flight of stairs, and Wilson was later seen inches away from a group of rioters assaulting a Capitol Police officer who was trying to prevent them from accessing the Senate Gallery. After the assault, Wilson, Knowlton and Montgomery are accused of going into the Senate Gallery.
Later, body camera footage from a Capitol Police officer captured Knowlton and Wilson yelling at police, the charges say.
"All you gotta do is step aside. You're not getting in trouble. Stand down. For the love of your country," Knowlton said, according to court records.
"We came all the way from our jobs to do your job and the freaking senators' job," Wilson allegedly said.
