NJ Man Charged In Capitol Riot After Social Media Posting

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ — A South Jersey man was arrested and charged for his role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol last year after federal authorities received a tip about his posts using the Parler social media app, according to authorities.

Michael Oliveras, 38 of Lindenwold, has been charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct after he entered the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, during an attempt by protesters to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents.

He was arrested last month after authorities received tips about posts he made on Parler, a social media app that became popular among those who politically lean right after the 2020 presidential election.

“This individual has been talking about overthrowing the government for weeks in public chat rooms pushing disinformation and talking about hanging and executing people repetitively,” according to a tip received by the FBI about Oliveras. “He claims to have been in the Capitol Building on the 6th of January and has posted multiple disturbing videos which would seem to substantiate this statement.”

Authorities said that Oliveras posted, “I’m inside the capital,” on Parler on Jan. 6, 2021. He also posted videos from inside the House throughout the same day, including one of himself and others chanting, “whose house? Our house?!” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

There’s another video believed to have been filmed by Oliveras, in which the person filming the incident chants, ““Where are the f------ traitors? Drag them out by the f------ hair!”

He also posted a video of items belonging to national media being thrown into a pile while someone authorities believed to be Oliveras said, “That’s what happens when the f------ fake news shows up at a Patriot rally.”

Another tipster told authorities that Oliveras had incited violence against counter-protesters at a “Stop the Steal!” rally in Philadelphia two months earlier, according to the complaint.

Someone who has had a “very personal relationship with Oliveras” for 20 years identified him in three separate photos, according to the complaint.

The news comes as the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 protests and riot at the U.S. Capitol approaches. Earlier this week, two Burlington County men were also charged with their roles in the incident. Read more here: 2 More South Jersey Men Charged In Capitol Riot