Central Falls man charged in Jan. 6, 2021, siege on U.S. Capitol

A Central Falls man is the fourth Rhode Islander to be criminally charged in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021.

North Kingstown man sentenced for role in Jan. 6 riot at U.S. Capitol

FBI Boston special agents arrested Juan J. Rodriguez Thursday on an arrest warrant issued by the U.S. Court for the District of Columbia. He was taken into custody without incident.

A criminal complaint lists four charges Rodriguez is facing: 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.

An affidavit submitted to the court states that Capitol Police officers patrolling the Rotunda found Rodriguez and two other men were inside a Senate staff office at around 4 p.m. Police say Rodriguez was wearing a yellow and black Batman knit hat. The glass panels of the window of the office had been broken and glass littered the floor, the report states. A video showed the men being escorted from the office through the Rotunda and into the hallway at 4:25 p.m. Officers walked them out the Rotunda door, but minutes later, Rodriguez returned to the ledge outside the office window.

Rodriguez asked officers for his cell home, which he had allegedly left charging in the office. The officers found the phone, checked to confirm that it was his, and then returned it to him, the affidavit states. “No more glass remained in two of the three lower panes in the window, so it was easy to hand the phone over to RODRIGUEZ, who was standing outside,” according to the report.

Records obtained through a search warrant served on Google found a mobile device associated with a gmail account in Rodriguez’s name was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Rodrigues was interviewed by FBI agents last September and confirmed that he walked to the Capitol and identified himself in a photo from Jan. 6, wearing a yellow Batman hat. He denied entering the Capitol, the affidavit states.

He was arraigned in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island in Providence Thursday and released on $10,000 bond. He was ordered to surrender his passport and not to travel outside New England. His next court appearance was scheduled for July 27 via Zoom.

Rodriguez was the 27th person arrested by the FBI Boston Division in connection with the breach of the U.S. Capitol. The Program on Extremism at George Washington University lists 940 individual cases related to the Capitol siege.