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A U.S. Capitol riot defendant who was accused of firing a gun into the air whereas among the many mob on Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021, now faces expenses of sexual assault and kidnapping in Utah.
Prosecutors allege John Banuelos, 40, attacked a girl within the Salt Lake Metropolis space in 2018, three years previous to his alleged involvement within the Capitol siege, based on courtroom filings obtained by CBS Information.
A DNA take a look at performed in August linked Banuelos to the 2018 intercourse assault, prosecutors allege in a charging doc filed in Utah.
Banuelos’ expenses in his U.S. Capitol riot case had been dismissed and he was launched from custody in January 2025, after President Trump granted clemency to the greater than 1,500 folks convicted of expenses stemming from the Capitol assault.
In keeping with courtroom filings in Utah, Banuelos allegedly invited the sufferer of the assault, referred to within the courtroom filings solely as S.J., to his residence in June 2018, falsely claiming there was a celebration on the home. In keeping with charging paperwork, Banuelos beat the sufferer after she entered his home.
Prosecutors stated the sufferer informed investigators that Banuelos “hit her within the face and informed her he was going to kill her. Banuelos then grabbed her by the shirt and dropped her on the ground, inflicting her to hit her head. (The sufferer) recalled feeling like Banuelos was going to kill her.”
The sufferer additionally informed police that Banuelos sexually accosted her, the courtroom paperwork say. The sufferer informed investigators, “Banuelos was aggressively kissing her and punched her within the head. She stated when she tried to punch him again, he bought ‘actually offended,'” based on the charging paperwork from prosecutors. The charging papers additionally stated the sufferer stated that Baneulos “grabbed her shorts, pulled them off, and threw her, inflicting her complete physique to fly within the air.”
The charging paperwork allege Banuelos strangled the sufferer, who informed investigators he “used a stress of ’10 out of 10′ for a few seconds. (The sufferer) stated that whereas strangling her, he informed her that she was ‘gonna be quiet’ and he or she thought she was ‘gonna die.'”
Banuelos faces expenses of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault. A warrant was issued in Utah for Banuelos’s arrest on Oct. 1.
Police studies obtained by CBS Information underneath the Freedom of Data Act stated Prepare dinner County, Illinois sheriff’s investigators discovered Banuelos at a Burger King within the Chicago suburb of Cicero on Oct. 17. The sheriff’s division stated Banuelos acknowledged his id to officers once they stopped him as a passenger in a ride-share automotive minutes later.
He has no listed protection lawyer in his case in Utah and was not reachable for remark. It was not instantly clear if he was nonetheless being held in Illinois or if he had been transferred to Utah.
Banuelos was among the many later waves of arrests within the U.S. Capitol siege case. He was charged in his federal Jan. 6 case in March 2024, greater than three years after the assault. Banuelos’ case was distinctive among the many tonnage of Capitol riot prosecutions, as a result of he was the one defendant accused of pulling and firing a gun whereas on Capitol grounds.
The Justice Division alleged “Open-source media and CCTV captured Banuelos allegedly elevating the gun over his head and, at roughly 2:34 p.m., firing two pictures into the air. Banuelos returned the firearm to his waistband and climbed down the scaffolding, rejoining the gang beneath.”
Division of Justice 
Banuelos pleaded not responsible in his Jan. 6 case, however by no means stood trial due to the dropped expenses.
Throughout 2024 courtroom proceedings in his Capitol riot case, Banuelos overtly and overtly predicted he’d be cleared of expenses due to the reelection of Mr. Trump.
When urged by Washington, D.C., federal decide Tanya Chutkan to watch out about what he stated in open courtroom, Banuelos informed the decide, “Trump goes to be in workplace in six months, so I’ve nothing to fret about.”
Banuelos is the newest in a rising sequence of Jan. 6 defendants to be arrested on unrelated expenses after they had been launched from custody following Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, pardons.
Zachary Alam, a convicted Capitol rioter from Virginia who was launched from jail after the Trump pardons, was arrested in Might for breaking and getting into at a house close to Richmond, Virginia. Alam was discovered responsible of the cost final month.
Christopher Moynihan, a Capitol siege defendant from upstate New York, was arrested final month for allegedly threatening to homicide Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries. Moynihan has pleaded not responsible.
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