PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon man has been arrested, accused of participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
His arrest adds to the growing list of local people facing legal trouble in the years after the riot. The FBI said more than 1,300 people have been charged, in nearly all 50 states, for crimes related to this breach.
David Medina, 34, is the eleventh person from Oregon and Southwest Washington to face federal charges. Medina is from Sherwood and faces a felony charge, plus several misdemeanors for allegedly breaching and committing acts of vandalism in the Capitol Building, such as attempting to break a "Speaker of the House" sign inside.
A tipster initially pointed out the Sherwood man on video and gave the FBI his Instagram username. From there, agents reviewed and gathered open-source material, such as Twitter posts, compiling the evidence in court papers.
The probable cause document included snapshots of inside the Capitol building, showing Medina attempting to break the sign above the Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office.
Agents also detailed how Medina looked directly into the camera, allegedly saying, "We were normal good, law-abiding citizens, and you guys did this to us. We want our country back." Additional evidence shows Medina waving an ornate American flag.
There's also seven pages of text messages from an FBI-executed search warrant on Medina's phone. In them, he discussed plans to head from Oregon to D.C., and he told a friend they "should be storming the Capitol building and governor's houses armed and ready to take over."
The probable cause document also highlights that Medina appears to "make light of his participation in the riot" on social media, using the hashtag #FBIsFavoriteCitizen.
Court documents also allege Medina was involved in the intrusion at the Oregon State Capitol in Dec. 2020. Medina made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court Friday. His next appearance will be in two weeks.
KGW reached out to his lawyer for comment, but we haven't heard back.