PORTLAND, MAINE – A Maine man appeared yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine on charges stemming from his assault on local law enforcement officers, as well as other crimes, during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 that disrupted a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress in the process of affirming Presidential election results.
Michael R. Sherwin, the Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and Halsey B. Frank, United States Attorney for the District of Maine, announced the charges.
Kyle Fitzsimons, 37, of Lebanon, Maine, was charged by criminal complaint with one count of assault on a federal officer, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a); one count of certain acts during a civil disorder, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 231(a); one count of unlawful entry in restricted building or on grounds, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1752(a); and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, in violation of Title 40, United States Code, Section 5104(e)(2).
Fitzsimons made his initial appearance in the District of Maine on Friday afternoon where United States Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III ordered Fitzsimons held preliminarily pending a detention hearing scheduled for February 11.
The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Fitzsimons alleges that on January 6, he pushed against and grabbed officers who were holding a police line in an arched entranceway on the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol building. Video surveillance footage captures Fitzsimons at the terrace archway, in the front of a group of rioters, charging the police line and swinging at Metropolitan Police Department officers.
“This case demonstrates that all levels of the federal government, in all areas of the country, are working together to hold responsible those who laid siege to the Capitol on January 6th,” said U.S. Attorney Frank. “Here in Maine, we are playing our part to bring to justice anyone who allegedly attempted to thwart the will of the American people as expressed in the 2020 election.”
This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Counterterrorism Section of the DOJ’s National Security Division, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine. The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Boston and Washington Field Offices, along with the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Capitol Police.
A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct for purposes of establishing probable cause, not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.