Felipe Marquez on Jan. 6, 2021. {FBI}
By Kevin Deutsch
A Coral Springs man has pleaded guilty to his role in the failed Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection after accepting a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, court records show.
Felipe Marquez, 25, pleaded guilty Sept. 10 to Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds, a misdemeanor. He faces up to one year in jail and a fine for damaging property in the Capitol building during his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 10, the federal records show.
Marquez’s crime happened as elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate were meeting in separate chambers of the Capitol Building to certify the Electoral College vote count of the 2020 Presidential Election, which former President Donald Trump falsely claimed he won over President Joe Biden.
Marquez originally faced additional charges of Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Entering and Remaining in Certain Rooms in the Capitol Building; and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building, the records show.
Following the deadly violence at the Capitol, a tipster who knew Marquez sent the FBI a four-minute-twenty-second long screen recording from Marquez’s Snapchat videos, which showed him participating in the unrest, according to the FBI.
According to arrest records, the earliest footage shows Marquez driving from Florida to Washington, D.C., in his Tesla Model 3, wearing a red “Keep America Great” hat.
Marquez then attended a large “Stop the Steal” rally before illegally walking around inside the Capitol Building during the insurrection, recording himself while inside a “hideaway” office of Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley (D), and sitting at the senator’s conference table with other rioters, court records show.
“Marquez also entered the area inside the Capitol known as the Crypt, where he and other rioters yelled, and Marquez stated, “We only broke a couple of windows,” according to the plea agreement documents.
Angry crowds of Jan. 6 rioters broke into the nation’s seat of government, assaulted members of the U.S. Capitol Police, entered congressional members’ offices, and damaged property, while others in the crowd encouraged and assisted those acts, according to the FBI.
Five people died during the insurrection, authorities said.
More than 500 people have been charged in connection with the event, including some in a wide-ranging conspiracy involving the Oath Keepers extremist group, prosecutors said.
Most of the participants sentenced so far have received sentences well below the maximum penalties.
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