FAA employee from Beaumont charged with taking part in Capitol siege

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A Beaumont man and Federal Aviation Administration
employee who subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory is facing federal
charges today after allegedly confessing to taking part in the U.S. Capitol
breech, according to court documents.

In an interview with FBI agents last week, Kevin Strong, 44, reportedly confessed to being inside the Capitol and taking a selfie in front
of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6, providing agents with photos and videos he had taken that day, according to a recently unsealed affidavit.

FBI agents also allegedly seized two guns from his Beaumont home that
belonged to his uncle.

Strong told FBI agents that he had gone to Washington, D.C., to see
President Donald Trump speak and to walk in the "Million MAGA march'' but that he had not caused any damage or attacked law enforcement officers.

Strong, who worked for the FAA in San Bernardino, had been under
investigation by the FBI prior to the violent riots at the Capitol, which left
five people dead, according to the FBI affidavit

The agency had begun looking into Strong a week before the Capitol
siege after receiving a tip that he "had been showing signs of behavioral changes over the last few months including stockpiling items and telling others to get ready for marshal law, rioting, and protesting," the FBI affidavit said.

The witness told FBI agents that Strong had claimed that World War III was going to begin on Jan. 6 and that QAnon, a fringe group of right-wing conspiracy theorists, would cover the cost of a truck he had recently purchased.

The witness also told investigators that Strong had been promoting the social media platform Parler as a place to get information and that he had hung a flag outside his home displaying "WW1WGA,'' a QAnon slogan standing for "Where We Go One, We Go All.''

Despite being under investigation, Strong traveled to Washington,
D.C., and appeared on a news broadcast during the riots, where he was spotted inside the Capitol by his co-workers, according to court documents.

The next day, a co-worker contacted the FAA's internal investigations
department, which then notified the FBI that Strong had taken part in the
Capitol siege.

Strong surrendered on Friday and appeared in a federal court in
Riverside, where a judge ordered him held on $50,000 bond, according to Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.

He was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol
grounds, entering or remaining in a restricted area and being disorderly or
disruptive in a restricted area.

Eimiller said Strong was transferred to San Bernardino County's West
Valley Detention Center on Friday night, where, according to inmate records, he remained behind bars.