A third person who flew from North Texas to Washington D.C. on a private plane has been arrested in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol last month.
Jason Hyland, a realtor from McKinney, traveled from Denton to the capital on Jan. 5, with several others, the FBI said. He is now charged with knowingly entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds.
Hyland’s attorney, Reed Prospere of Dallas, did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.
According to the criminal complaint (at the bottom of this page), Hyland sent a text message to the group on Jan. 5 with the subject “Patriot Flight.”
“Thanks for joining me to DC to stand up for America,” Hyland wrote. “This will be historic – no matter the outcome.”
U.S. Capitol Riot
Hyland was seen on surveillance video entering the U.S. Capitol building holding up a cell phone, and the photos were included in the federal complaint.
Hyland didn’t know the others previously but was Facebook friends with two other realtors who went with him and who also have been charged -- Jenna Ryan of Frisco and Katherine Schwab of Dallas, according to the charging document.
Agents said in an interview, Hyland described walking up the steps of the Capitol in a “funnel” and claimed two Capitol police officers held the doors open and he asked if he could go inside. He said one of the officers remarked “everyone else is,” the complaint said.
Hyland appeared briefly before a federal judge on Tuesday and was released under certain conditions, including that he does not contact the others on the plane.
His attorney asked that he be allowed to communicate with Schwab because the two are now living together, and prosecutors did not object.
As of Feb. 4, federal charges have been filed against more than 174 people associated with the riot, including North Texans Garret Miller, of Richardson; Larry Rendall Brock, of Grapevine; Nolan Cooke, of Savoy; Jennifer Leigh Ryan, of Frisco; Guy Wesley Reffitt, of Wylie; Troy Anthony Smocks, of Dallas; Nicholas DeCarlo, of Burleson; Daniel Goodwyn of Corinth; Jason Hyland, of McKinney and Katherine Schwab.
