Two from Worcester charged in Capitol riot; recorded themselves in building
FBI special agents arrested two Worcester residents Tuesday for their alleged participation in the U.S. Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021.
Julie Miller, also known as Hong Ngo, 51, and Long Duong, also known as Jimmy Hoang Duong, 54, were taken into custody after an arrest warrant was issued Monday by a federal court in Washington.
The FBI initially determined that Duong and Miller had participated in the riot through tracking data that placed the defendants’ respective telephones in the Capitol, according to court documents from the FBI. Investigators determined they were the registered owners of the email addresses associated with the phones, documents show.
According to the criminal complaint and a statement of facts signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya, Duong and Miller are both charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
A year ago, June 13, Miller was interviewed at the Worcester office of the FBI. Agents interviewed Duong two days later.
Miller told the FBI that she and Duong were roommates who traveled together to the Washington area in January 2021 for a vacation. While at their hotel in Virginia, they decided to drive to Washington, D.C., and attend a rally with President Donald Trump.
In separate interviews, Miller and Duong acknowledged that they had entered the U.S. Capitol building together but stated that neither of them had engaged in any violence or acts of vandalism.
Miller said that she had videos saved to her phone. During their separate interviews, agents showed her two color photographs that were taken from surveillance footage inside the Capitol. Miller and Duong were able to identify themselves in both photographs, court documents show.
During the U.S. Capitol building riots, Miller is seen wearing a red baseball hat and dark winter jacket, while Duong is wearing a dark baseball hat with “TRUMP” printed on the front, a yellow winter vest over a gray hoodie with a flag draped over his shoulders, according to court documents.
Video footage shows Miller and Duong outside and inside the U.S. Capitol building, including inside the Senate Parliamentarian’s private office suite, documents show. The two first entered the U.S. Capitol building through the Senate fire door, according to documents.
Upon entering, Miller and Duong immediately turned and entered the Senate Parliamentarian’s office space, where Miller filmed the destruction that had already occurred in that that office. In Miller’s recording, an unknown person states, “Don’t destroy anything.” Miller replies, “They already did. Everything is already destroyed.”
Miller and Duong venture further into the Senate Parliamentarian’s office suite, entering an interior office space. Miller sits in a desk chair as Duong took pictures of her on his phone, documents show.
The two stayed in the Senate Parliamentarian’s office space for roughly five minutes before they were pushed out of the office by police. They were then pushed back out of the U.S. Capitol building through the Senate Fire Door.
Additional footage shows the two reentering the U.S. Capitol Building through a Senate door and remaining near the entrance taking pictures until they were pushed out of that same door by police.
The arrests of Miller and Duong aren't the first from the region in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot.
On Dec. 23, Vincent Gillespie, 61, of Athol was found guilty in federal court of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; civil disorder; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, prosecutors said.
The two arrests bring the total number of individuals charged by the FBI Boston Division in connection with the breach of the U.S. Capitol to 24. The investigation is ongoing.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Julie Miller and Long Duong from Worcester charged in riot at U.S. Capitol
