A man the FBI identifies as Andre Maurice Bonneau is seen in police body cam footage captured at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

A Lewiston man has been arrested on charges stemming from his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. 

Andre Maurice Bonneau, 64, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.  

In addition to the felonies, Bonneau is charged with misdemeanor offenses of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. 

His alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election, according to federal court records. 

The FBI arrested Bonneau on Thursday in Maine. According to the court documents, the FBI was assisted by a person in Lewiston who identified Bonneau for the investigating agents.

For years, Bonneau ran a popular sausage restaurant in Lisbon before retiring in 2021.

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According to court documents, Bonneau was seen in open-source and police body-worn camera footage on Jan. 6, 2021, approaching a bike rack barricade separating officers from rioters on the West Front of Capitol grounds. Officers had previously assembled a police line at the location to prevent rioters from encroaching further on the grounds as the riot developed. 

At the location, video footage showed Bonneau allegedly disregarding police orders to “get back.” Instead, Bonneau turned his back to officers along the line, grabbed the bike rack, and used his body weight to push the bike rack into officers in an apparent attempt to breach the police line. 

For about the next 20 seconds, video footage showed Bonneau struggling with officers over the bike rack as he attempted to lift and remove the barricade from the police line. In response to his actions, officers defended themselves by using their riot batons against and deploying a chemical irritant in Bonneau’s direction. Court documents say the officers successfully repelled Bonneau’s advance, and he retreated. 

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine. 

This case is being investigated by the FBI’s Boston and Washington Field Offices. 

In the 44 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,504 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states with crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 560 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing. 

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