A Sioux City man accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is scheduled to appear before a Washington, D.C., federal judge later this week to face criminal charges.
Kenneth Rader, 53, is charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with four charges: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
He is scheduled to appear over an online video conference Thursday for a hearing that will take place in Washington.
An FBI agent arrested Rader on a warrant Thursday in Sioux City. Rader made his initial court appearance later that day in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, where Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelly Mahoney informed him of his charges and released him on personal recognizance. Among Rader's conditions of release are that he may travel only to Washington, D.C., for court hearings or to meet with his attorney. He must first receive permission from the U.S. Probation Office or Pretrial Services to travel.
His attorney, federal public defender Brad Hansen, of Des Moines, did not return an email message requesting comment. A call to Rader's cellphone immediately went to an automated message saying that his number has been changed, disconnected or is no longer in service.
According to a criminal complaint filed Jan. 11, Rader told FBI agents in September that he had attended the Jan. 6, 2021 rally and walked to the Capitol grounds after hearing a "boom." He told agents he looked inside the Capitol, but never entered.
But Rader is charged with illegally entering the Capitol and spending about 3 minutes inside during the insurrection, in which hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered to protest and contest the results of the November 2020 election in which Joe Biden had defeated Trump. The mob gathered outside the Capitol and then hundreds of protesters broke into the building in an effort to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College results.
According to the complaint, security footage shows Rader, dressed in a blue "Trump 2020" hoodie, entering the Capitol at 2:14 p.m. through the Senate wing door that had already been broken by protesters. A screen shot from the video shows Rader standing near the door. According to the complaint, the video shows Rader enter the building, stand near a broken window, speak with several unidentified men and then exit.
In an interview with the FBI, two of Rader's relatives identified him as the person shown and in a photo taken outside the Capitol.
Just two days after the insurrection, a family member tipped the FBI to Rader's alleged participation in the insurrection, reporting "My radicalized (family member) Kenneth Bruce Rader Jr. from Sioux City, IA has been sharing videos of himself on Capital (sic) grounds and inside the building and has verbally articulated a full rage (sic) of threats against VP Mike Pence, stating that 'We're not done!' … 'watch what 'we' do after Trump is gone.'"
In August, the FBI told Facebook to preserve Rader's account, which included profile pictures showing a burning American flag on the date of the Nov. 7, 2020, election, and a large Q, a reference to QAnon conspiracy theorists.
The original tipster and a second family member told the FBI in September that Rader traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 with an unknown group and made several recordings of his activities that the two family members shared with law enforcement.
Earlier this week, Rader updated his Facebook profile picture with a shot of him clean-shaven, wearing a shirt and tie. In the background are a number of photos, including a shot of himself on the cover of the Dec. 2 Weekender, the Journal's weekly entertainment tabloid. In a Weekender article, Rader spoke about his debut novel, "Psychotic Monkey," which he said was a semi-autobiographical book exploring his 30 years of drug addiction that resulted in numerous convictions and trips to prison.
Sioux City man charged in Jan. 6 insurrection
Kenneth Rader, 53, is charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with four charges.
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