WASHINGTON — Two Florida men are charged in an eleven-count indictment unsealed today in federal court for the District of Columbia with multiple felonies and misdemeanors related to their conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tom Vournas, 62, of Bradenton, and Leonard Lobianco, 52, of North Port, are named in the indictment and were arrested Thursday in Florida by the FBI. They will make their initial appearance in the Middle District of Florida.
Court documents said Vournas was also known as "El Greco," while Lobianco used the alias "Riddler."
Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
Click here to view the indictment.
Vournas is charged with felony offenses of civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or ground with a deadly or dangerous weapon and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Vournas is also charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Lobianco is charged with civil disorder, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, 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.
According to the eleven-count indictment, on Jan. 6, 2021, the men committed and attempted to commit an act aimed at impeding law enforcement officers from performing their official duties during a civil disorder event. In addition, defendant Vournas is alleged to have used a chemical irritant to assault law enforcement officers on the Capitol grounds and allegedly brought the weapon inside the Capitol building.
This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
This case is being investigated by the FBI's Tampa and Washington Field Offices.
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