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New Jersey man charged in connection with Capitol riot, took video of self inside building, reports

The FBI was tipped off by someone who knew Vargas from a community group in Jersey City.

Published: January 27, 2021 12:54pm

Updated: January 27, 2021 3:33pm

A New Jersey man who was charged in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 allegedly took a video of himself storming the building and gloated about how the mob "took over."

Hector Emmanuel Vargas Santos was charged Jan. 14 on four federal counts for allegedly unlawfully and violently forcing his way into the U.S. Capitol Building. Santos was also charged with disorderly and disruptive conduct, according to filing documents obtained by the Hudson County View newspaper.

When Santos was arrested remained unclear as of Wednesday.

The FBI was tipped off by someone who knew Vargas from a community group in Jersey City and saw that he had posted pictures and videos to his social media from inside the Capitol on the day of the deadly riot. 

Vargas posted a photo showing protesters scaling the the exterior walls surrounding the U.S. Capitol Building, according to the criminal complaint.

In the post, he tagged the location as the "United States Capitol" and included a caption that read "WE THE PEOPLE TOOK OVER THE U.S. CAPITOL. #HOLDTHELINE". Vargas also posted videos in of himself walking through the Rotunda. He spoke into the camera and said, "we took over this ... capitol," according to multiple news reports.

Social media posts from Vargas also linked to a GoFundMe account entitled "Let’s get every TRUE PATRIOT to DC January 6th," according to the FBI.

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