Chicago man gets more than 4 years in prison for storming Capitol, breaking into Nancy Pelosi's office
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after he was convicted of multiple charges for his role in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he stole a wallet and a photo of the late Congressman John Lewis from the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Kevin Lyons was found guilty in April of six federal charges: a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding; and misdemeanor charges of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
He previously had rejected a plea deal, court records show Lyons agreed to all of the facts laid out in the charges against him as part of a "stipulated trial" that essentially allowed him to agree to a conviction without formally admitting guilt. Lyons waived his right to a jury trial as part of the stipulated trial deal.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Lyons to 51 months in prison on Friday, according to court records. It's the longest sentence given to any Illinois defendant in connection with storming the Capitol. Most of the more than 30 people from Illinois who have been charged so far have taken plea deals, and most of those sentences have resulted in probation rather than time behind bars.
Lyons was arrested at his home in the Gladstone Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side one week after the riot at the Capitol.
The FBI was led to Lyons after investigating his social media accounts, which included several pictures of him in body armor holding guns.
Lyons' Instagram account included a screenshot of a map tracing the route from his home to the Washington, D.C. area, with a post beside it reading, "I refuse to tell my children that I sat back and did nothing. I am heading to DC to STOP THE STEAL!"
That account also included a photo depicting a sign that read "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi," with a caption under it, "WHOS HOUSE?!?!? OUR HOUSE!!"
The FBI questioned Lyons in Chicago two days after the riot, and he admitted that he had been in Washington, D.C., two days earlier, but at first was evasive about whether he entered the Capitol building, according to the charges against Lyons.
Lyons said he "100% guaranteed, without incriminating himself," that he saw nothing being dragged from the Capitol.
He also claimed he had a dream where he saw a lot of banging on doors, paper being thrown around, and a mob of people, and he said in his dream, "People really didn't have much choice of where they were going because of the mob," the complaint said. Lyons advised that if he were inside, he was inside for approximately 45 minutes, the complaint said.
Then, Lyons was shown the photo reading, "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, " and said, "Wow, you are pretty good. That was only up for only an hour." He also said he could not guarantee he was the one who posted it to Instagram, but when the agent asked him to show them his camera roll on his phone, the photo was there, the complaint said.
When asked if there were other pictures from the Capitol building on his phone, Lyons showed the agents another picture of the wooden plaque with Pelosi's name, and a video showing a large group of people walking through what appeared to be the U.S. Capitol, the complaint said.
When asked if he would give FBI agents a copy of the video, he said the file would be too big and instead offered to upload the videos to YouTube and email the links, the complaint said.
The complaint said Lyons went on to email an FBI agent with the words: "Hello, Nice FBI Lady, Here are the links to the videos. Looks like Podium Guy is in one of them, less the podium. Let me know if you need anything else. Kevin Lyons."
One of the videos Lyons emailed to the agent showed a large group of people outside the Capitol with Lyons speaking throughout, the complaint said. The second showed people in what appeared to be a Capitol hallway with Lyons' voice also heard, and a third showed people in the Rotunda, the complaint said. The videos were posted to Lyons' YouTube channel, the complaint said.
Lyons told agents he had gone to Washington, D.C. to attend President Trump's rally and described himself as a tourist, the complaint said. He said he took an Uber to the Washington Monument where the rally was held and had only planned to attend the rally, the complaint said.
But he said while walking along Pennsylvania Avenue, he heard "flash bangs" and saw people walking toward him with red faces, the complaint said. He said the crowd pushed toward the Capitol building, and there was not much he could do to escape because he only weighed 140 pounds, the complaint said.
He said near the Capitol, he saw people tearing up scaffolding and climbing the walls, and he said he went up the stairs and walked in a door, the complaint said.
Inside the Capitol, Lyons said he first walked around the Rotunda and took a moment to look at the statues and gather his bearings, the complaint said. He said he then walked upstairs to the second floor but did not go to the House of Representatives Chamber because he did not know where it was, the complaint said.
But Lyons admitted to going into the "big boss" office, referring to Pelosi's office, the complaint said. He said he did take that picture of the plaque outside Pelosi's office and uploaded the photo to Instagram, the complaint said.
According to court documents, Lyons filmed as he walked around Pelosi's office, recording an image of himself reflected in a mirror.
While in the office, he took a wallet from a grey wool coat pocket. The wallet contained $50 in cash, a TSA precheck identification card, two bank cards, and a driver's license belonging to the wallet's owner. He also stole a framed photograph of Pelosi with the late civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis, later sending a text message "I took this off Pelosi's f***ing desk!"
Lyons has a previous criminal record in Cook County. The 2014 arrest was on a charge of obstruction of a police officer, but the charge was later dismissed.
Lyons remains free on bond and will be allowed to surrender to prison later.
Nearly 1,000 people have been charged so far in connection with the Capitol riot, including more than 30 people from Illinois.