Cold Spring Harbor man charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riots, feds say

A Cold Spring Harbor man has been charged with entering and demonstrating in the U.S. Capitol with a group of four other men during the Jan. 6 riots while Congress was certifying the presidential election.

Jon Lizak, now 21, joined four other men to travel to Washington, D.C., and entered the Capitol, traveled through the rotunda and to the office and conference room of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to a U.S. attorney’s complaint recently unsealed.

A second man charged, Thomas Carey, now 21, is listed in court papers as being from Cold Spring Harbor but also living in Pittsburgh.

Prosecutors said Lizak and Carey stood by and watched while another member of their group, Joseph Brody of Springfield, Virginia, assaulted a Capitol police office, knocking the officer back with a metal barricade while the officer tried to secure a north door of the capital.

The other men charged are Gabriel Chase, 22, of Gainesville, Florida, and Paul Ewald Lovley, 23, of Halethorpe, Maryland, according to the complaint. They were arrested earlier this week and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.

Lizak and Carey watched Brody and Chase destroy news media equipment and other belongings while Brody filmed the activity within the Senate chamber, according to the complaint.

Lizak, a Binghamton University student who describes himself online as president of the conservative and nationalist group, Legacy America, was arrested last week after FBI agents searched his Cold Spring Harbor home, according to court records. He appeared before a federal judge in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn on Sept. 15, where he was released on bond and his case was transferred to U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

He was ordered to appear for his arraignment on charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; 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.

His Garden City-based attorney Kevin Keating noted that the charges are all misdemeanors.

“On Jan. 6, Jon was a 19-year-old college student. He is not charged with an act of violence or with damaging any property. He is simply charged with the misdemeanor act of being present,” Keating said in a statement.

Lizak attended Cold Spring Harbor Jr./Sr. High School, according to the complaint. He is also listed online as president of the Binghamton College Republicans and was a former intern for the Town of Huntington, according to his LinkedIn page.

Carey faces the same charges. He was arrested Tuesday at a home in Pittsburgh. His attorney has not been listed by the court and no court date has been set.

FBI agents said in the complaint that the group had traveled to Washington, D.C., before, including a “Stop the Steal March for Trump” rally Nov. 14 and were all members of the group America First, “espousing a belief that they are defending against the demographic and cultural changes in America.”

The complaint said they communicated through social media before the riot and traveled together to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. They were identified by FBI agents through surveillance footage, YouTube videos and cellphone video of the insurrection. FBI agents also used cellphone data showing them at the Capitol.

The group was in the Capitol for about 30 minutes, the court papers said. All five members entered Pelosi’s office and Brody walked onto the Senate floor where he communicated by phone with Lizak and other members of the group, the papers said.