Melrose man arrested for his part in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

MADISON, Wis. (WKBT) — A Melrose man was arrested Tuesday on federal charges connected to taking part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

Joshua Munn, 24, — along with his relatives Kristi Munn, Thomas Munn, Dawn Munn and Kayli Munn, all of Borger, Texas — faces four federal charges:

• Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority;
• Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricting building or grounds;
• Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and,
• Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Munn and his family members were among rioters who broke into the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 and attempted to disrupt a joint session of the U.S. Congress while it certified the electoral college results for the 2020 presidential election, according to federal investigators.

The crowd first gathered at the National Mall to protest in favor of former President Donald Trump, then a large group moved to the U.S. Capitol, breaking in and causing damage.

An anonymous tipster reported seeing Kristi Munn post on Facebook and SnapChat about traveling to the rally and illegally entering the Capitol building, according to court documents. The tipster passed screenshots of Kristi Munn’s social media posts onto the FBI, which included photos of Josh Munn, who lives in Melrose, at the Capitol.

Kristi Munn then shut down her Facebook account.

An FBI investigator says other members of the family posted about going to the Capitol, including Thomas Munn, who also tagged Joshua Munn in the post.

Excerpts from Tom Munn’s post include: “Made it back to the hotel about an hour ago … Have lots of pics and video to follow … the DC police opened up on a small group climbing the scaffolding, with gas grenades … The only damage to the capital building was several windows and sets of doors. Nothing inside the capital was damaged. I can tell you, patriots NEVER made it to the chamber. There was no violence in the capital building, the crowd was NOT out of control … they were ANGRY!!!”

FBI investigators were able to identify members of the Munn family, including Joshua Munn, in surveillance video at the Capitol, entering through broken windows. They are later seen crawling out through a window at about 3:17 p.m.

They were also seen in Jan. 6 video taken at the Capitol posted on Parler.

Investigators say a review of Joshua Munn’s Facebook messages show that he admitted to going into the Capitol, telling a Facebook friend, “Before you hear it on the news I am I [sic] family marched on DC today it was extremely cool we did enter the Capitol building” and “It was super cool everything was cool till the cop used tear gas that is when people got mad but still never hurt  anyone.”

Joshua Munn denied breaking in, saying the window was open he got there.  “There was one thing that I will say we may have broken a couple Windows to get in but when we were there no one was allowed to damage break or steal anything in the Capitol building,” he wrote.

Cell phone location information also shows he was at the Capitol.

Read the Statement of Facts and Criminal Complaint.

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