NC man led Jan. 6 rioters to Capitol — and FBI agents to grocery store, warrants say

In July 2023, FBI agents set up outside suspect 82-AFO’s Kannapolis home.

The bureau was looking for people involved in the riot at the U.S. Capitol more than two years prior. They believed 82-AFO was Brett Rotella, also known as Brett Ostrander.

Rotella is accused of fighting with police, leading the charge into the Capitol’s tunnel and helping a mob shove police after they were expelled from that tunnel, according to FBI search warrants that have since been unsealed.

When Rotella left his house that afternoon and went to a nearby Aldi, the agents tracked him and compared his tattoos in person to pictures from Jan. 6, 2021, according to court records. A judge approved a search warrant. They arrested him days later.

Rotella has been indicted and faces a number of federal charges, including civil disorder.

The FBI’s unsealed search warrants give a timeline of Rotella’s alleged involvement on Jan. 6, as well as information on what the bureau was looking for when it searched his home and phone. His charges are still pending.

WHAT HAPPENED JAN. 6

Still images from body camera footage included in the warrants show the man the FBI identified as Rotella holding a long pole with two flags attached.

Here’s a timeline in warrants of Rotella’s alleged actions that day, according to the FBI’s account:

Around 2:24 p.m.: Body-camera footage showed him on the West Plaza of the Capitol building. He approached a metal police barricade, grabbed it and pushed it in the direction of a Metropolitan Police Department officer, according to the records.

“F—in’ tear gas us, I didn’t do s—!” he yelled.

He continued.

“We just want things to be right,” he said. “Something has to happen or we’re all f—ed!”

Around 2:33 p.m.: A police line on West Plaza fell. “Numerous” police officers retreated, the warrants say.

Even as the police retreated, Rotella led “numerous” other rioters in quickly following them, according to the records. He called out “Hold!” and held up his fist to tell to the group behind him to stop.

He led the rioters to the inaugural stage, and the Capitol, the search warrants say.

Around 2:40 p.m.: Rotella again followed police, this time into a long hallway leading into the Capitol on the Lower West Terrace known as “the tunnel,” according to the search warrants. As he followed the cops, an officer fired rubber bullets near his feet to stop him.

He turned around so that his back was facing them and continued walking towards them.

Police retreated again, moving into the tunnel. They shut and locked the first two sets of double doors to the entrance of the Capitol. Rotella stared the police line down, his flag pole still in hand.

Moments later, rioters smashed one of the glass panes in the doors and opened them. They approached the police line again. Rotella was the second rioter to enter the tunnel.

A different rioter started fighting with the police. Rotella and others joined in. A still image included in court documents appears to show Rotella pushing against police shields.

Around 2:43 p.m.: Rotella turned his back on the police line and pushed against the officers “while using his hand to help leverage his weight and push against the door frame,” warrants state. The officers asked Rotella to let go of the door but he reportedly said, “I don’t want her to get hurt,” an apparent reference to him creating space for a “smaller female near him.”

She moved away from the front of the line about two minutes in. Rotella stayed, according to the search warrants. They say that he grabbed the edge of a police riot shield, released it, raised his hand in the air and said, “Just go back, please.”

He got hit with pepper spray, clamped his eyes shut and felt his way out.

Around 3:50 p.m.: About an hour later, he was still near the tunnel, according to the warrants.

A mob continued to fight police from the outside. Rotella was part of a crowd that pushed together and shouted “heave ho,” the warrants allege.

While pushing with them, he raised his hand, then counted out with his fingers as if to say “1, 2, 3,” before a big push, the warrants say.

The mob grabbed a ladder and shoved it through the tunnel, where still images from bodycam footage show police packed in like sardines. Rotella pushed “the entire length of the ladder” back and into the tunnel, the warrants say.

After the police pushed the ladder back out of the tunnel, Rotella went back to pushing against other rioters to “breach the police line in the tunnel,” warrants state.

WHAT THE FBI WANTED TO FIND

The 82- and 74-page search warrants account for nearly every possibility, and ask for authority to seize a wide range of evidence: clothes, photographs, cellphones and more.

The FBI said in its application that it wanted to search for evidence that Rotella conspired with others, that he breached the Capitol and that he tried to cover up what he did, among other things.

The agent who filed the warrants “conducted or assisted in the investigation of domestic terrorists” before. That agent said they believed Rotella obstructed Congress; assaulted, resisted or impeded officers; participated in civil disorder; conspired to impede or injure an officer; destroyed government property; traveled to participate in a riot; and committed various offenses in the Capitol.

Charlotte FBI spokesperson Shelley Lynch said the bureau would not comment on what it learned through the searches.

Records show they searched a Samsung phone Rotella owned in September after the initial search of his house.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Rotella’s case is still in its early stages. Though it was investigated by a local FBI agent, it is being handled by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C.

On Jan. 3 prosecutors and Rotella’s attorney agreed to file a joint status report by Feb. 16, said D.C. United States Attorney’s Office spokesperson Patricia Hartman. A joint status report informs the court of how the case is progressing on both sides.

Samuel Randall, Rotella’s defense attorney, declined to comment on the charges his client faces.

Rotella is not in FBI or law enforcement custody, the attorney confirmed.

At least 24 people from North Carolina have been charged for their involvement in the riot on Jan. 6, according to public information from the federal Department of Justice.