Federal authorities arrested a Hudson County man on Tuesday on four federal charges charging him with trespassing and disorderly conduct inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
Juliano Gross of Kearny twice admitted to the FBI that he was inside the Capitol that day, according to the federal complaint against him.
Like other suspects on January 6, the FBI learned of Gross’ presence in Washington, D.C. that day, through informants who sent investigators information about videos they had seen on social media. In Gross’ case, they were on TikTok.
The FBI first interviewed Gross in late January 2021 at his home in Kearny, and he said he had indeed traveled to Washington with his mother to attend President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 rally that precipitated the invasion of the Capitol. He livestreamed the rally on TikTok to raise money through donations, then walked to the Capitol and walked in and walked around, the FBI said.
He told investigators he remembered walking “through a round room that contained red velvet ropes, artwork, and statues.” He raised $150 to $200, but couldn’t get the money back because his account was quickly banned.
In February, the FBI interviewed Gross’ mother, who said she went to their car to warm up after the rally. She is not charged in the case.
Although his account was banned, the FBI said it found footage from Gross’s TikTok from “citizen detectives” who saved the Jan. 6 videos and posted them to Twitter.
Photos of Juliano Gross, of Kearny, NJ, of the FBI’s criminal complaint against him on charges accusing him of being inside the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riot.
In one – which the FBI recognized as Gross from his voice during his face-to-face interview – he says, “We’re in the Capitol. To be able to return to America. We are in the Capitol building. The Capitol building was toppled. He was knocked down.
In others, Gross was in the Senate Chamber, gallery, saying, “Open the door! Open the door!” and walking out of the room saying, “Our Capitol! Our Capitol! We’re taking back our country today!
Gross is captured on multiple Capitol security cameras in multiple areas of the Capitol, wearing a black coat, red Trump cap and wearing an American flag mask, according to the FBI. Investigators also obtained Gross’ cellphone information through a search warrant.
On Dec. 28, 2021, the FBI interviewed Gross a second time in a consensual, non-custodial setting, and he said his cellphone was on the entire time he was at the Capitol, and confirmed the photos investigators had. security cameras were him.
Gross even pulled out his cell phone and showed officers another photo of himself wearing the same red cap he wore on Capitol Hill, investigators said.
On his social media and company website, which match the images in the criminal complaint, Gross is listed as a college graduate who works in marketing at a marina in The Brick.
No attorney is listed for Gross in court records.
More than two dozen people from New Jersey, or with close ties to the Garden State, have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 federal investigation.
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Kevin Shea can be reached at [email protected].
