IL Man Charged In Capitol Riots After Friends Send FBI His TikTok

ILLINOIS — An Illinois man is facing federal charges after a TikTok video showed him scaling the side of the U.S. Capitol and fighting with National Guard soldiers during a riot in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, according to a criminal complaint filed last week.

Mathew Capsel, 27, was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building, engaging in violence in a restricted building, assaulting and interfering with officers of the U.S. government, and interfering with a law enforcement officer's official duties during the commission of a civil disorder which obstructed a federally protected function.

He was arrested Tuesday.

RELATED: 3 Illinoisans Charged, Some Fired After Mob Assault On Capitol

According to the charges, Capsel was part of a pro-Trump mob that assaulted the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, breaking windows, ransacking offices and bludgeoning a police officer to death in a failed bid to stop the certification of Electoral College votes and keep former President Donald Trump in the White House.

The FBI said it had received multiple tips about Capsel, including video and screenshots showing him at the Capitol and fighting with National Guardsmen — in one case, throwing himself against their riot shields until finally being pepper sprayed.

Telling federal officers that Capsel was "known to be violent," a former neighbor sent the FBI screenshots of his Facebook page — where he goes by Mateo Q Capsel — and a video showing him "on the frontline of the riot and breach," according to the complaint.

Another of Capsel's friends on social media separately submitted screenshots showing Capsel during the riot, prosecutors said.

The FBI obtained additional videos posted to Capsel's own TikTok account, and compared his image on social media — including distinctive face and neck tattoos — to his driver's license image to verify his identity, prosecutors said.

Capsel's Facebook page is filled with conservative memes, conspiracy theories and posts about being unsuccessful at dating — as well as an admonition, paraphrased from Gandhi, to "be the change be the change you wish to see in the world." It's not clear if the Q in Capsel's Facebook screen name refers to a middle name — not listed in court documents — or to QAnon, a right-wing conspiracy theory rooted in baseless claims that President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a satanic child sex trafficking ring run by top Democrats.

In one post, Capsel suggests the Capitol riots were led by antifa — a loosely affiliated left-wing movement comprised of self-described anti-fascist protesters. In another, he admits to being part of those same riots, writing, "I tried to hold the line back till they sprayed me," and posting video showing him fighting with guard troops.

"Capitol Building. Yeah. Trump is the president, what?" Capsel yells in a TikTok video reposted to his Facebook account Jan. 7 and showing him scaling the side of the U.S. Capitol. "True patriots right here. True patriots taking over the Capitol Building," he screams.

In another post, written three days after the riot, Capsel (inaccurately) writes, "To all my patriot brothers and sisters if you did not harm or damage anything you did not commit a crime," before launching into a screed about maritime law, a secret constitution, claims that cursive writing isn't legally binding, and the sovereign citizen movement.

"Hunt us down like dogs we are not scared ! We know how this ends," Capsel posted Jan. 10. Five days later, he shared a screenshot of a tweet sent by an apparent Chicago-based activist "doxxing" him as a "Trump insurgent" who was involved in the riots on Jan. 6.

"Antifa think they scare me," Capsel captioned the post, along with laughing emojis.

In the end, it wasn't left-wing activists Capsel should have been concerned about. It was the FBI.