Man accused of bringing weapons to vote counting center after 2020 election arrested for trespassing at US Capitol on January 6
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
A man who is accused of bringing weapons to a Pennsylvania vote counting center after the 2020 presidential election was arrested Tuesday for allegedly illegally trespassing at the Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Antonio LaMotta of Virginia is charged with four misdemeanors. He has not entered a formal plea, and a lawyer for LaMotta is not yet listed on the court docket.
According to prosecutors in Pennsylvania, LaMotta and Vets for Trump Co-Founder Joshua Macias believed that fake ballots were being counted inside the Philadelphia Convention Center in the days after the 2020 election.
LaMotta and Macias drove to the convention center in a silver Hummer displaying stickers for the QAnon conspiracy theory. Both men were carrying loaded handguns, police said, and had several other weapons stored in the car, including an AR-15 style rifle, ammunition and a Samurai sword.
LaMotta was released on bail in November 2020, shortly before traveling to DC.
On January 6, LaMotta allegedly pushed past police officers and entered east of the Capitol Rotunda. Police pushed LaMotta back outside after less than 10 minutes.
LaMotta was caught on an officer’s body camera during the short interaction inside the Capitol, court documents say. Investigators played that body camera footage to an FBI agent who interviewed LaMotta after his Pennsylvania arrest, and the agent identified the man in the body camera footage as LaMotta.
LaMotta and Macias face several charges in Pennsylvania, including attempting to interfere with primaries and elections, criminal conspiracy and violating Pennsylvania’s gun laws after allegedly trying to interfere with ballot counting in the 2020 election at a Philadelphia voting center. They have pleaded not guilty.
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