DENVER – A Trinidad man is the latest Coloradan charged with entering the U.S Capitol and other alleged federal crimes during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Timothy Williams, 38, faces two federal counts of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a Capitol building, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and unsealed Friday.
Court records show Williams was arrested and made his first court appearance Friday in federal court in Denver.
According to the federal criminal complaint, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started investigating Williams after an anonymous tip was sent in that he and his girlfriend had been inside the Capitol during the insurrection.
FBI agents found Williams on videos of the rioters inside the Capitol that day and interviewed him on March 17, according to the complaint, during which time he admitted he had gone inside the Capitol building.
He was seen on videos inside the Capitol Rotunda, hallways, and inside the Capitol Crypt that afternoon wearing a Hortilux ball cap, which manufactures grow lights. Williams told FBI agents during his interview that he previously worked for a Trinidad-based hydroponics equipment supplier but had been fired over his refusal to take a COVID-19 test.
He and his girlfriend got separated from each other that day, they told the FBI, and Williams claimed he got pushed inside the Capitol building, though video showed him meandering around various locations inside and taking a selfie at one point, according to the complaint and screenshots it contains.
He also participated in chants toward law enforcement and was seen holding a flag in a video posted on YouTube, according to the complaint. But he told the FBI he did not take anything from the Capitol and did not perpetrate any violence or property damage.
Further, according to the complaint, Williams’s cell phone records showed he was present inside the Capitol that day. A Las Animas County Sheriff’s Office sergeant who had prior run-ins with Williams positively identified him as the man seen in videos and screenshots inside the Capitol.
Williams is one of several Colorado men to be charged with illegally entering the Capitol that day and other crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
All of Colorado’s Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate voted in favor of establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the events surrounding the insurrection, while all of its Republicans voted against the commission’s establishment.
