WASHINGTON — Federal charges were unsealed this week against a Virginia man accused of posing in front of a line of police before entering the U.S. Capitol with a CrossFit gym owner who has already been sentenced for his role in the Capitol riot.
Prosecutors filed four misdemeanor counts on Monday against Francis Gregory Biondo, of Colonial Heights, Virginia, accusing him of unlawfully entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Biondo was arrested Wednesday and charges were unsealed in federal court in D.C. the same day.
According to charging documents, Biondo can be seen posing for a photograph in front of a line of police officers who were attempting to prevent rioters from entering the building before going inside himself. Once inside, investigators say Biondo is one of dozens of rioters who can be seen on a video being broadcast by far-right streamer Anthime “Baked Alaska” Gionet. Gionet pleaded guilty last year to a petty misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and was sentenced in January to 60 days in prison.
In Gionet’s livestream, investigators say Biondo can be seen taking a photograph of another Virginian, Jeffrey Etter, of Portsmouth, as he climbs through a broken window into the Capitol. Etter, who helped found the now-defunct CrossFit Slice gym in Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor count as Gionet earlier this year and was sentenced last month to three years of probation.
After entering, Biondo allegedly stayed in the Crypt area of the Capitol with other rioters for approximately 30 minutes before leaving through the broken window where Etter stopped to pose for a photo.
An initial hearing for Biondo had not yet been set and it was not immediately clear whether he was represented by an attorney.
According to the Department of Justice, in the 33 months since the Jan. 6 attack nearly 1,200 people have been charged with crimes ranging from unlawfully entering the building to seditious conspiracy. Of those, more than 880 have now pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial.