A Tennessee man believed to be a protester who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week and entered the Senate chamber with plastic restraints was ordered into police custody on Monday.
Eric Munchel, 30, appeared before a federal judge who ordered the Nashville resident to be kept unconnected pending further hearings, reports The Tennessean. Online snipers accuse Munchel, known as the ‘zip tie guy’, of being one of two men who carried out the restrictions on January 6 in the Capitol building amid a chaotic scene where supporters of President Trump had deadly riot.
He faces charges of intentional access to or residence in a restricted building on grounds without lawful authority, and one charge of violent trespassing and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Eric Munchel, 30, is believed to be a man who was photographed with zippers in the Senate chamber during the riot at the Capitol building in the Senate, the FBI said.
(Department of Justice)
Prosecutors have demanded that he remain in custody pending extradition to Washington DC
The FBI said photos of someone suspected to be Munchel were carrying the restraints, an object in a holster on his right hip and a cellphone mounted on his chest with an outside camera.
“In my experience, flexible cuffs are used by law enforcement to keep and / or detain subjects,” FBI agent Carlos Fontanez wrote in an affidavit.
Munchel was not charged with using the zippers.
When authorities met Munchel at a hotel in Washington DC on the day of the attack, they saw him wearing a “Taser Pulse”, a taser that emits an electric shock, which he said was for self-protection during the Trump rally. which preceded the siege at the Capitol.
According to authorities, he attended the rally with a woman who was also pictured with him in the Capitol. Their relationship was not disclosed.
This photo shows Eric Gavelek Munchel, Nashville and Davidson County Tennessee subway government. Munchel was arrested in Tennessee in connection with the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in Washington. (Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee Subway Government via AP)
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A hearing on Munchel’s case is scheduled for Tuesday.
“I want to remind you that it is very important that you communicate with them (lawyers) about your case. You should talk to them openly and freely,” U.S. Magistrate Chip Frensley told the newspaper. “You do not talk to them and communicate with them, it is difficult for them to represent you. We have challenges in the COVID era, and they are going to work through things, and I have to work with them so they can do everything. to introduce you. ‘