2 Oregon brothers arrested on federal charges tied to U.S. Capitol riot

Published 5:14 pm Wednesday, March 24, 2021

FBI agents have arrested two Oregon brothers who are accused of breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Matthew Leland Klein, 24, and Jonathanpeter Allen Klein, 21, are the first Oregon residents to be charged in the Capitol riot.

The younger brother has described himself as a Proud Boy and was captured in a Jan. 5 photo wearing a Proud Boy PDX shirt, according to the FBI.

More than 300 people have been charged in connection to the riot. Authorities have said they believe at least 100 more could face charges.

The Kleins were captured on video inside the U.S. Capitol.

The two each face charges of aiding and abetting in the obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, according to court records.

Both were arrested Tuesday. Matthew Klein was arrested in Sherwood, and Jonathanpeter Klein was arrested in Heppner, according to the FBI.

Indictment unsealed

On Dec. 27, the younger Klein notified his employer that he wanted to take time off from work during the first of the new year, from Jan. 4 through Jan. 8, so that he and his brother could attend the “Stop the Steal Rally in DC,” according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The brothers obtained airline tickets two days later to fly to Philadelphia on Jan. 4 and then onto Washington, D.C. on Jan. 5, according to the indictment. They paid cash for their plane tickets.

The Klein brothers are accused of storming the Capital shortly after 2 p.m. Jan. 6.

Matthew Klein assisted members of the crowd, who had breached the Capitol’s restricted grounds, by using a police barricade to climb a wall and gain access to an external stairwell leading to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol, the indictment says.

Minutes later, Jonathanpeter Klein entered the Capitol building through a door on the northwest side of the Capitol.

Jonathanpeter engaged in “a celebratory exchange with an identified member of the Proud Boys,” and entered the Capitol building on the northwest side, the indictment says. While there, the indictment says, he greeted another person, saying “proud of your (expletive) boy!”

By approximately 2:29 p.m., Jonathanpeter Klein and his fellow rioters had made their way from the Senate side of the Capitol, through a line of law enforcement officers in the Capitol’s Crypt, to the House of Representatives side, before they proceeded up a flight of stairs to the Capitol’s Rotunda, according to the indictment.

After the brothers exited the Capitol, they forcibly opened a secured door on the Capitol’s north side.

When federal law enforcement officers responded, Matthew Klein put on protective goggles and advanced toward the law enforcement officers holding a Gadsden flag affixed to a flagpole to interfere with police efforts to disperse the crowd, according to the indictment.

“The defendants joined together to wrench open a secure door on the Capitol’s north side. Behind that door, law enforcement officers tasked with protecting the Capitol and its inhabitants prepared to fend off yet another wave of attacks from the unruly crowd,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul T. Maloney wrote in a detention memo unsealed Wednesday. “The defendants’ actions created a dangerous scenario that directly interfered with law enforcement’s efforts to secure the building. That they did so as part of a second or third wave of attacks–with knowledge of the mayhem that had already unfolded at the Capitol — shows their reckless disregard for others and the danger posed by these two actors.”

Identified in photos

A Jan. 5 photo of the two brothers at a rally in support of former President Donald Trump outside the U.S. Supreme Court building helped FBI agents identify the Kleins’ actions the next day in storming the U.S. Capitol, the detention memo says.

Investigators also found photos of the Klein brothers attending a Sept. 7 rally at Oregon’s Capitol in Salem, where about 100 supporters of Trump, including members of the Proud Boys, traveled to the state capitol building and clashed with about 20 Black Lives Matter protesters.

At that event, Jonathanpeter Klein was armed with a yellow baseball bat and paint ball gun, and Matthew Klein was seen in photo wearing a blue shirt, goggles, body armor, and red and black fingerless gloves that bear the words, “Firm Grip,” according to a detention memo.

Photos caught Jonathanpeter Klein chasing down a Black Lives Matter protester and shooting a paintball gun at an unknown target, Maloney wrote in the detention memo.

The Kleins’ cases will be handled in the District of Columbia. Both remain in custody.

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