Devin Steiner and Adam Miller accused of breaching US Capitol during Jan. 6 insurrection

A Wooster man Thursday turned himself into federal authorities after being charged with entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

His brother-in-law, who is also lives in Wayne County, is expected to surrender Friday, according to a lawyer representing both men.

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Devin Steiner, 40, is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disrupting the orderly conduct of official business, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parade, demonstrate or picket in a Capitol building.

He was scheduled to have his initial appearance in U.S. District Court Thursday afternoon, said Dan Ball, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Steiner's brother-in-law, Adam Miller, is expected face similar charges. Public records show that Miller, 39, is registered to vote in Smithville, which is about six miles north of Wooster.

Attorney Andrew Wides, who represents Steiner and Miller, said Thursday that the Wayne County men were "low on the totem pole" for federal investigators, who have so far charged more than 840 people in connection with the insurrection.

The FBI first targeted those accused of violence or who were part of organizations, he said.

Steiner and Miller, Wides said, went to the Capitol to show their political support, but acted alone and did not have weapons. "They were basically sheep in a herd," Wides said.

Federal officials said they received an anonymous online tip that Steiner participated in the insurrection and found YouTube footage and surveillance images that showed Steiner and Miller inside the Capitol, according to court documents.

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They are the latest of several people from northern Ohio to be charged in the incident at the Capitol. This includes Justin Michael Smith of Brunswick, who was among three people from Northeast Ohio arrested earlier this month.

In the images of the Capitol insurrection released Thursday by U.S. Attorney, FBI agents identified Steiner as a man wearing a camouflage jacket and a red, white and blue winter hat with the word "Trump" on it, along with the number 45. Donald Trump was the 45th U.S. President. Steiner, investigators said, was also carrying a light brown JanSport backpack.

Miller is with him in the pictures wearing a black jacket and cowboy hat with what investigators say appears to be an American flag printed on part of it, along with blue or brown stars.

On Jan. 6, a joint session of the U.S. Congress was meeting at the Capitol to certify the vote count of the Electoral College in the 2020 presidential election Joe Biden won.

Until that day, the certification had never been controversial in American history. But just after 8 a.m., defeated President Donald Trump tweeted his repeated allegations of voter fraud ahead his rally planned in Washington D.C. that day.

A few hours later, just after noon, Trump addressed the rally and urged the crowd to converge on the nearby Capitol: "We fight. We fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."

By about 2 p.m., rioters were smashing windows of the Capitol and attacking police, forcing their way inside.

Images show Steiner and Miller entered the building at 2:19 p.m., a criminal complaint said.

About the same time, at 2:20 p.m., members of Congress, then Vice President Mike Pence, and their staff members evacuated the chambers afraid for their safety.

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Camera footage shows Steiner and Miller in various locations inside the Capitol building until about 2:54 p.m., the complaint said. Where they went after that is not clear.

About two months later, on March 15, an FBI agent went to Steiner's home on North Bever Street in Wooster to interview him about Jan. 6. Steiner declined to speak, the complaint said.

On the same day, an agent spoke to a relative of Miller's, who said he believed Miller was a follower of QAnon and had travelled to Washington, D.C Jan. 6, the complaint said.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at Steiner's home on April 8, seizing a jacket, hat and backpack that appeared to be the same ones he was wearing during the insurrection, the complaint said.

They also seized Steiner's iPhone, which was using a cell site near the Capitol Jan. 6, the complaint said. When Steiner provided the FBI the code to unlock the phone, they discovered he had sent a message Jan. 6 at 1:46 p.m. as the insurrectionists surrounded the Capitol..

"Storming the capitol building with hundreds of thousands !," the message said, according to the complaint.

Six minutes later, a video recorded on Steiner's phone shows a group of people walking toward the Capitol building and "Miller appears to be on the video," the complaint says.

What the two men may have done inside the Capitol isn't spelled out in the complaint. But entering the Capitol, which is guarded 24/7, requires authorization and identification, the complaint said.

Steiner could face up to six months in prison for each of the five charges against him, though Wides said that's unlikely. Once Steiner and Miller make their initial court appearances in Northeast Ohio, the case will be transferred to Washington D.C., jurisdiction, which is handling all of the insurrection cases, Wides said.

Whether the two men worried about the consequences on Jan. 6 is not clear.

But three days after the insurrection, Steiner had a brief text exchange on his phone with an unidentified person, showing some concern, the criminal complaint said:

Person: Wanna hang out tomorrow night?

Steiner: I'd love to but I'm laying low for awhile.

Person: Worried about the law Coming after you?

Steiner: Hmmhmm

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Devin Steiner and Adam Miller accused of breaching US Capitol Jan. 6