A Crown Point man has now joined the more than 1,000 rioters charged in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Gregory Mijares, 41, has been charged in the District of Columbia with a felony offense of civil disorder and misdemeanor offenses of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds, the office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said in a release Friday. Mijares was arrested in Crown Point September 8 and made his initial appearance at the U.S. District Courthouse in Hammond the same day, the release said.

According to a statement of facts, FBI Agents investigating the insurrection received a tip in October 2021 that Mijares was in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel January 6 as rioters turned against law enforcement. Mijares told investigators after they showed him a series of pictures of him at the Capitol that he rented a car in Indiana and drove with a friend to D.C. January 5, 2021, to participate in the rally to support then-President Donald Trump, records said.

Following the rally, Mijares began walking with the crowd toward the U.S. Capitol and entered the grounds wearing a gas mask and made his way to the Lower West Terrace pursuing law enforcement officers, records said. As officers tried to regroup in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, Mijares stood in their path and raised a flag over his head, records said, after which he started fighting with them as they tried to remove him.

Video footage from the Capitol shows Mijares was one of the first rioters to pursue police into the Tunnel, entering the archway at approximately 2:41 p.m, records said, with body cam footage and open-source video showing him approaching a set of glass doors that police previously locked behind them. Rioters then smashed one of the glass panes, and Mijares flipped off the officers before pulling open the now-broken door and pulling open a second set of doors open for the other rioters, records said.

Officers tried to push Mijares back using a riot shield, at which point he pushed back against the shield and other rioters started fighting the officers, records said. Mijares then was able to grab a baton with which an officer hit him.

Mijares remained at the front and pushed against police in a couple “heave ho” efforts, passing out riot shields taken from officers to rioters, according to the statement of facts. After one last “heave ho” against police, he left the tunnel about 3:19 p.m. EST, records said.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section; Valparaiso-based attorney Matthew Soliday has been appointed as Mijares’s public defender, according to court records.

Mijares is the second person from Crown Point to be charged in the Capitol breach.

Dale Huttle, 72, as of August 10 appears to be closing in on a plea agreement for his multiple counts, which include assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, records show; his nephew, Matthew Tuttle, of Hebron, on August 12 pleaded guilty to one count of Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds, which carries a sentence of six-months to a year in prison.

Matthew Tuttle’s sentencing hasn’t been set yet, records show.

In January 2021, Kash Lee Kelly, 34, of Hammond, was charged in the District of Columbia with two misdemeanor counts, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the charging documents.

Last November, Kelly pled guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building, and he was sentenced to two months in jail, court records state. That time is being served concurrently alongside his four-year sentence on drug dealing charges and for violating his probation. Kelly is currently at FCI Tuscon, a medium security facility in Arizona, and scheduled to be released in July 2024, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.

In the 32 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,146 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 398 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, the U.S. Attorney release said.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

Originally Published: Sep 08, 2023 at 4:33 pm