Two SWFL Men Charged In Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Breach: U.S. DOJ

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two Florida men were charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, during the electoral vote count for the 2020 presidential election, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in federal court.

Tom Vournas, 62, of Bradenton, and Leonard Lobianco, 52, of North Port were arrested Jan. 4 in Florida by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Vournas was charged with felony offenses of civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or ground with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, according to the DOJ.

He was also charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a capitol building; acts of physical violence in capitol grounds or buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.

Lobianco was charged with civil disorder, a felony, and misdemeanor offenses 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, the DOJ said.

Both men took actions aimed at impeding law enforcement officers from performing their duties during the rioting at the Capitol.

Vournas also used pepper spray to assault the officers on Capitol grounds and brought it inside the building, the agency said.