Three members of a Puyallup family have been charged with a series of misdemeanors for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, including counts of destruction of government property, disorderly conduct and participating in acts of violence in the U.S. Capitol.
Kevin M. Cronin, 51, and his two sons, 29-year-old Kevin M. Cronin II and 25-year-old Dylan Rhylei Cronin, were arrested Monday on warrants issued by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. They later appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Fricke in Tacoma, where they were appointed counsel.
According to the charges, the trio traveled from Seattle to Washington, D.C., where they attended then-President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally. They then marched to the U.S. Capitol, which they entered along with hundreds of other rioters in a failed effort to prevent Congress from certifying results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden, the charges say.
The documents indicate the brothers were members of the Washington Army National Guard. The elder Cronin is identified as an employee of the U.S. Postal Service.
Their alleged movements and actions are outlined in a 29-page complaint filed Monday that contains numerous photographs of the trio, captured by news stations and social media, as they proceeded from the political rally to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol.
One series of photographs shows a man identified as Dylan Cronin, wearing a body-armor "plate carrier" vest and a red "Make American Great Again" ball cap, kicking a door in the Senate Wing of the Capitol at approximately 2:12 p.m.
Moments later, according to the complaint, "open-source video captured a person believed to be Dylan using a piece of lumber to break the lower right pane of glass in a window to the right of the exterior Senate Wing door."
Another image taken from the video shows a man believed to be Dylan Cronin "entering the U.S. Capitol building through the left windowpane adjacent to the right windowpane he broke." Closed-circuit Senate video shows that person entering the Capitol along with other insurrectionists.
Additional video footage contained in the complaint shows a man identified as Dylan Cronin meeting up with another man — identified as his brother, Kevin Cronin II — inside the Capitol. The complaint also contains an image taken from Senate closed-circuit video showing a man believed to be their father, Kevin Cronin Sr., entering the Capitol through the breached Senate Wing door.
Yet another freeze frame from the video shows three men believed to be the Cronins meeting one another in the Senate Wing, where two of them, purportedly the brothers, lighted cigarettes.
The complaint details the trio's alleged movements in and around the Capitol and its grounds over the next two hours.
The men are each charged with seven misdemeanor crimes:
* Destruction of government property;
* Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
* Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
* Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds;
* Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building;
* Acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings;
* Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Nine other Washington residents have been charged for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, including Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean, who faces a sedition charge for allegedly trying to overthrow the U.S. government as one of the planners of the attempted insurrection.
