A California man who fled to Belarus after being accused of attacking cops during the January 6 Capitol riots has been charged with 14 crimes in his absence.
Evan Neumann, 49, of Mill Valley, a town about 15 miles north of San Francisco, had fled the country in February after he allegedly used a metal barricade to attack police during the riots, but the criminal investigation into his behavior is now gathering pace.
Neumann had allegedly assaulted three Metropolitan Police Department Officers and one Capitol Police officer in the attack, according to the US Attorney’s office.
He was indicted on 14 counts on Friday including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.
Neumann was initially charged on in July on six separate criminal charges for his participation.
California man Evan Neumann, 49, (above) has been indicted on 14 criminal charges for his participation in the January 6 Capitol riots
Video footage had captured Neumann at the riots wearing a Make America Great Again hat, black jacket, dark-colored backpack as well as a yellow and orange scarf
Neumann was also seen donning a gas mask and ramming a metal barricade into police
Video footage of Neumann from police bodycam footage had surfaced where he was seen donning a gas mask while standing near police in front of barricades set up at the base of the West Front of the Capitol Building.
According to his original indictment, he started to berate the police at the scene, speaking directly to them as he said they are ‘defending the people who are going to kill your f****** children.
‘They are going to kill your f****** children, they are gonna rape them, they are gonna imprison them, and you’re defending the people that are going to do this to your children,’ he allegedly said.
His claims seemed to echo those from the widespread QAnon conspiracy theory movement, which holds that former president Donald Trump is waging a secret war against a global cabal of elite Satan worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.
Its followers believe Trump will expose the pedophiles, order its members be arrested and sentenced to death.
Neumann sold his $1.3 million home in Mill Valley, California and fled the country in February
Evan Neumann is pictured with his family back in 2018. He has two children
At the riot, the indictment alleges, Neumann refused orders to move away from the metal barricades, telling the officers: ‘No, you can’t tell me what to do, you piece of s***.’
He later allegedly berated one of the officers, only identified as ‘J.M,’ saying that officers ‘kneel to Antifa because they’re little b******’. He then also allegedly threatened J.M. and said that the officers will be ‘overrun’ by the crowd, telling him: ‘I’m willing to die, are you?’
J.M. then tried to wrestle the metal barricade out of Neumann’s hands, the indictment states, but Neumann used it as a battering ram, lifted it off the ground and used it to strike the officer.
The FBI later found Neumann leaving his house in Mill Valley, California on February 16 – after he was identified as the suspect in the footage – and heading to the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport.
There, agents wrote in the indictment, Neumann had admitted to flying to Washington D.C. on January 5 and departing on January 7.
He also reportedly admitted that he interacted with law enforcement on his trip, but did not provide any details.
It is unclear why he was able to travel to the airport as he was under investigation, and whether the FBI had seized his passport.
He claimed that he was invited into the Capitol building after someone broke through the window, and added that he is now on the FBI’s Most Wanted Criminals List.
He said he knew he would be identified as one of the rioters soon after the FBI asked for help in identifying him.
‘I have many friends working for the government,’ he told news channel Belarus 1 in a November segment called Goodbye, America . ‘I knew that they would immediately identify me and therefore [I] left the first thing.
‘I started hiding, traveling across America from one point to another.
‘I hired a lawyer, and the lawyer said that I could go to Europe on a business trip.’
Neumann said he fled to Belarus after originally flying to Italy in March, before getting on a plane to Switzerland and then driving through Germany and Poland to get to Ukraine
According to public records, Neumann owns a handbag company and has been involved in the hospitality industry, developing software to make the reservation process easier.
‘The lawyer said it was good because it would buy me time, and then it will become clear what is happening with my affairs,’ he said.
‘After all, no court proceedings were carried out, so in order to understand what was happening, I left.’
He then described how he originally flew to Italy in March, before getting on a train to Switzerland and then driving to Ukraine via Germany and Poland.
Once in Ukraine, Neumann said, he rented an apartment in the city of Zhytomyr for four months, but, he said, within two weeks, he realized he was being followed by the Ukrainian secret service, the SBU.
It was at that point, he said, that he decided to illegally cross into Belarus.
But to do so, he said, he had to wade through swamps, and dealt with wild hogs as he also tried to avoid snakes, before he finally crossed the border into Belarus and sought asylum.
Belarusian border authorities reportedly detained Neumann on the border with Ukraine on August 15.
Neumann told Belarus 1 that he sought political asylum in Belarus because he believes the United States is no longer a country of law and order
In the November interview, Neumann also claimed that he did not commit a crime during the Capitol riots.
‘I do not believe that I have committed any crime. One of the charges was very offensive,’ he said.
‘It is alleged that I hit a police officer. There is no reason for this.
‘This is terrible… This is political persecution. And this is a level with which I cannot do anything.’
He also said on the program that he was seeking political asylum in Belarus because the United States, in his opinion, is no longer a country of law and order, the Daily Beast reported.
Neumann is one of more than 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which disrupted a joint session of Congress meeting to formally certify the November 2020 presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Trump, the Republican incumbent.
Neumann is believed to be the only international fugitive charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
The siege followed a rally near the White House earlier that day in which Trump exhorted supporters to march on the Capitol during a speech in which he repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.
Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour melee and four officers have since taken their own lives.
