Man With Ties To Milwaukee Charged In Jan. 6 Capitol Attack: Report

WISCONSIN — A man arrested in June is the latest person with Wisconsin ties to be charged by federal prosecutors in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the nation's Capitol, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported.

A criminal complaint filed in May charges 54-year-old Paul E. Kovacik with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building, according to online court records. The case was investigated in part by a special agent assigned to the FBI Milwaukee Division.

In years prior, court records showed Kovacik had listed addresses in Milwaukee, Greenfield and Brookfield, the Journal Sentinel report said.

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Kovacik was arrested in Rockport, Indiana, on June 19, according to records from the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal investigators arrested him after a search warrant for Google records uncovered that a mobile device associated with Kovacik was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 for about two hours, according to online court records obtained by Patch.

Investigators also uncovered social media account information associated with Kovacik such as a Youtube username of "Wisconsin's Game," court documents said.

Kovacik spoke to investigators over the phone, telling them he took the train to Washington and stayed overnight on Jan. 6, and sent them videos he took from that day, investigators said. Kovacik told investigators that he entered the west side of the Capitol and made his way to the third floor on an elevator, according to investigators.

Police tracked Kovacik's travels through the Capitol that day using surveillance footage from the attack and the Google records, according to court documents.

When he was inside the Capitol, Kovacik encountered another person throwing "some type of sticks" toward police and a commotion where he learned a girl had been shot, he told investigators, court documents said. Surveillance footage showed Kovacik moving within the building between hallways and floors, according to investigators.

At one point, police corralled Kovacik and other protesters into the statutory hall connector, where he then moved with a surge of people breaking past police into near the House corridor, investigators said in court documents.

Other surveillance footage appeared to show Kovacik moving throughout the Capitol alone, holding his phone, or with other people, according to court documents.

Months before investigators allege Kovacik was in the Capitol, he had an encounter with police in Mequon, court documents said. Body camera footage from that encounter showed him wearing a similar sweatshirt to the one he is wearing in security camera footage from the Capitol, according to court documents.

On the day of the attack, rioters gained access to the Capitol building as congress was set to certify the electoral college count of the 2020 election. People in the crowd forced entry to the building by breaking windows and assaulting police, as others in the crowd encouraged and assisted the attack, prosecutors have said.

The attacks came after months of disinformation about the 2020 election which falsely claimed Trump won the vote. Bill Barr, the former president's then-attorney general, has told congressional investigators that he did not believe fraud changed the election's results.

In March, federal prosecutors announced charges against another Wisconsin man who is accused of pepper spraying police during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Online records from the DOJ show nine people have been arrested in Wisconsin in connection with the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol violence so far. Kovacik was arrested in Indiana, online records said.