Burleson man smoked inside Capitol, wore ‘Murder The Media’ shirt during riot, FBI says
A Burleson man who posed for photographs inside the U.S. Capitol during the riot there three weeks ago, including one in which he smoked a cigarette, was arrested on Tuesday, authorities said.
Nicholas DeCarlo, 30, appears with another man in a photo that shows them in front of a door inside the Capitol, according to a FBI special agent’s account that is attached to a criminal complaint. The phrase “murder the media” was etched on the door.
DeCarlo wore a “murder the media” shirt and hat while posing in front of the door.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia charged DeCarlo with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted buildings or grounds without lawful authority, obstructing or impeding any official proceeding and parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.
The riot occurred on Jan. 6 during a joint session of Congress that was convened to certify the electoral college vote in the 2020 presidential election. Some people in the crowd forced their way into the Capitol by breaking windows.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, DeCarlo said that he was inside the Capitol building.
The Times reported on Jan. 13 that DeCarlo, who also uses the name Dick NeCarlo, is self-employed in crypto-investments.
DeCarlo was not a participant in the riot, he told the newspaper, but was on assignment as a reporter for Murder the Media, “a right-wing company based in Monte Rio, Calif., that posts video and livestreams,” according to the Times report.
Police did not stop DeCarlo or a companion, DeCarlo said.
“One did ask us when we were going to leave. We said we’ll leave when we’re done reporting on it — when we’ve got our scoop,” DeCarlo said in the Times interview.
Nicholas Ochs of Hawaii posted online a video that shows Ochs and DeCarlo speaking as they walk down a sidewalk in front of row houses.
“Viewers we have some good news,” Ochs says. “We have just, uh, peeked through this window, and on the television the headline reads that Congress stopped the vote when we stormed the Capitol. And, as we’ve been saying all day, we came here to stop the steal.”
“We did it,” DeCarlo interjected, according to the complaint.
“We were being sarcastic, but we didn’t know we were actually going to,” Ochs says.
DeCarlo questions the other man’s intent.
“I was being a bit facetious,” Ochs says. (Ochs was also charged in connection with the Capitol intrusion.)
“Oh no, that’s what I came down here to do,” DeCarlo replies. “We [expletive] did it.”
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 2:52 PM.
