PORTLAND — A Peru man was arrested Wednesday and charged with four federal crimes stemming from U.S. Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021.
Thomas Bordeau Sr., 61, was charged Thursday with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Each of the two crimes is punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
He also was charged with disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings.
Each of those crimes is punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf freed Bordeau on a $5,000 unsecured bond and he was ordered not to have a firearm, destructive device or other weapon.
The case was then transferred to federal court in Washington, D.C.
In an affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Sean Murphy, the FBI had received a tip that Bordeau had been at the Capitol building during the riot.
As part of the FBI investigation into the attack on the Capitol, the FBI reviewed records from websites, public video and closed circuit video footage depicting events at the Capitol building and grounds on Jan. 6.
“These records and video footage confirmed that Bordeau participated in the attack” on the Capitol that day, Murphy wrote.
He was seen wearing a blue sweatshirt, dark Khaki-type pants, a black balaclava-style hat, sunglasses on top of his head, gloves and brown shoes, Murphy wrote.
Bordeau entered the Upper West Terrace door at about 2:45 p.m. and appeared to be by himself. Within about 10 seconds of walking into the building, he walked back toward the Upper West Terrace Door, and held it open for other rioters to enter, waving some of them in, for nearly one minute, Murphy wrote.
Meanwhile, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate were meeting in a joint session in the Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College of the 2020 Presidential Election, which had taken place Nov. 3, 2020.
Around 2 p.m., people in the crowd gathered outside forced their way into the Capitol building, including by breaking windows and by assaulting members of the U.S. Capitol Police, as others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those acts.
Bordeau can be seen walking through the Rotunda at about 2:47 p.m. He exited the Capitol building on the east side at about 2:52 p.m., Murphy wrote.
Cellphone records put him at that general location at that time, according to the affidavit.
Someone who knew Bordeau positively identified him for FBI agents.
At 3:18 p.m. Bordeau sent a Facebook message to a friend that read: “Just left the capital We were inside the dome Somebody broke the door down We got pepper sprayed I’m walking back from the capital now…” according to the affidavit.
On Jan. 7, 2021, he posted an upside-down American flag to his Facebook page, “which I know from my experience to be a sign of distress that was used by rioters on January 6, 2021 to convey their outrage at the results of the 2020 election,” Murphy wrote.
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