Kansas man who took video of himself in Capitol riot pleads guilty to misdemeanor

A northeast Kansas man who took video of himself in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a single misdemeanor charge.

Mark Roger Rebegila, of St. Marys, entered a guilty plea to parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building. The hearing was held via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty, sir?” asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

“Yes, your honor,” Rebegila said.

His sentencing is scheduled for March 10. Rebegila faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. He also is required to pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building. Prosecutors say repairs to the building totaled about $1.5 million.

Rebegila, 32, originally was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building; violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. The other counts were dropped as part of his plea agreement.

He is the third of eight Kansas residents charged in the Capitol riot case to plead guilty. Two Leavenworth women who attended the Jan. 6 event together pleaded guilty in September to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Both are scheduled to be sentenced this month. The cases of five other Kansas residents — including three Proud Boys from Johnson County — are winding their way through the court system.

Seventeen Missouri residents also have been charged in connection with the Capitol breach, and four have now pleaded guilty — all to misdemeanors. A St. Louis County man pleaded guilty on Sept. 17, a Springfield couple entered guilty pleas on Sept. 27 and a Kansas City man pleaded guilty on Oct. 26. They are scheduled to be sentenced this month and in January.

The FBI received a tip in the aftermath of the riot saying Rebegila had been inside the Capitol, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in his case. On Jan. 15, the FBI interviewed a witness who said he or she knew Rebegila. The witness also told the FBI about seeing a video on Jan. 6 that Rebegila had sent to several people. The witness watched the video on one of those friend’s phones, the document said.

The video showed Rebegila filming himself inside the Capitol. The witness “stated that others claimed that Rebegila sat in a lawmaker’s chair and stole a bottle of liquor from an office in the U.S. Capitol,” the affidavit said. It added that “the reports of Rebegila sitting in a lawmaker’s chair and stealing a bottle of liquor are under investigation.”

Rebegila spoke to the FBI at his residence in St. Marys on Jan. 15 and admitted that he had entered the Capitol during the riot, the affidavit said. He told the FBI that he had arrived at the Capitol after others had crashed the barriers and crowds were going inside.

“Rebegila further stated that he asked a police officer if he could go inside and the officer shrugged his shoulders,” the document said. Rebegila said he used his phone to record and transmit a video chat as he walked through the Capitol building. He told the FBI that he later deleted the video “because he did not want to get into trouble.”

Rebegila denied stealing or damaging any property or assaulting law enforcement officers, the affidavit said. On Feb. 22 and Feb 23, it said, an FBI agent contacted Rebegila by phone, then continued to communicate with him via text messages regarding the video he took inside the Capitol “and any other photos or videos he wished to provide to the FBI.”

Rebegila texted the FBI a video he purportedly took outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 that showed other protesters and rioters as police were dispersing the crowd, the document said. He also provided a photo of himself in front of the Washington Monument from earlier in the day, it said, but he told the FBI that “he was still not able to locate the video he took inside the U.S. Capitol and shared with others.”

The photo Rebegila sent the FBI showed him wearing a dark blue jacket and a “Trump 2020” stocking cap, according to the affidavit.

An FBI agent who reviewed the closed-circuit television video from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 said Rebegila could be seen entering the building through a door that rioters had forced open earlier. The video showed him going into several offices, the affidavit said, and on several occasions, it showed Rebegila using his phone to take photos or videos.

Rebegila was charged on March 10 and arrested five days later in Topeka.