Nashville, Tenn. (TN Tribune) – A Tennessee man who had expressed pro-Trump views and was accused by online researchers of carrying plastic hand restraints in the U.S. Senate during the Capitol riot Wednesday, has been arrested.
The Nashville man, Eric Munchel, 30, was being held in a Nashville jail Sunday on a federal warrant, online records show. An FBI spokesperson, Samantha Shero, confirmed the arrest.
The federal prosecutor’s office in Washington is handling the case.
“Photos depicting his presence show a person who appears to be Munchel carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day,” the office said in a news release, which identifies him by his full name, Eric Gavelek Munchel.
His arrest follows extensive online efforts to identify the two men in photos carrying hand restraints in the Senate – one masked, one unmasked. Online researchers identified Munchel as the man who was masked and a Texas man, Larry Brock, as the one who was unmasked. Brock was also arrested, the prosecutor’s office said.
