Yahoo Movies Former sheriff’s lieutenant arrested in Aventura. FBI says he took part in Capitol siege.
A former lieutenant with the Broward Sheriff’s Office was arrested Tuesday in Aventura and faces four charges centering on an alleged role in the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
According to a criminal complaint filed by a Miami FBI special agent in a Washington federal court, Julio Cesar Chang, 55, posted information on his Facebook account about being at the pro-Trump siege on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
What FBI’s complaint says
The trail of social media posts, according to the document filed on Sept. 23, allegedly includes a picture of the onetime Marine Corps gunnery sergeant inside the Capitol wearing a Trump hat captioned with “The deplorables have taken back our country.” A now-deleted social media video was also posted with the phrase “The beginning of our second American revolution.”
The filing also cites phone records the FBI obtained from AT&T that show a cellphone registered to Chang at his Miami-Dade address was used inside the Capitol building around the time, just after 3 p.m., that video footage shows Chang entering the east side of the building through the Rotunda doors.
The image, included with the court filing, allegedly shows Chang walking through that door and “wearing the same dark colored Trump hat with white lettering, dark colored jacket, blue backpack and scarf with a U.S. flag design as seen in Chang’s Facebook post.”
Based on the evidence, which the FBI gathered after receiving a tip in February, the department felt there was probable cause to seek Chang’s arrest.
WUSA9 in Washington, and other news sites, including the Daily Beast, reported on Chang’s arrest in Aventura. The charges are disorderly conduct, entering a restricted building or grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Chang’s LinkedIn profile says he is a Ph.D. candidate for a doctor of philosophy in peace studies and conflict resolution from Nova Southeastern University with an expected graduation in 2022. His profile also lists his tenure with BSO from 1992 to 2005 and his time as a gunnery sergeant with the Marine Corps from 1985 to 2004.
He wrote on LinkedIn that he served as a combat veteran with tours in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “in support of Operation Enduring Freedom serving as counter intelligence operator and high-value target interrogator.”
Other Floridians charged
In May, Daniel Lyons Scott, 28, a self-identified member of the Proud Boys from Bradenton, was arrested and charged with participating in the Jan. 6 siege, including assaulting Capitol police officers.
Robert Scott Palmer, of Largo, pleaded guilty earlier this month to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, The Orlando Sentinel reported.
