SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — Last week the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested three active-duty Marines in connection to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was certifying the 2020 election results.
An affidavit from the Department of Justice indicates Sgt. Dodge Dale Hellonen of Camp Lejeune was arrested Wednesday, Jan. 17, along with two others: Cpl. Micah Coomer from the 1st Radio Battalion I Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group in Camp Pendleton, California, and Sgt. Joshua Abate from the Marine Corps’ Cryptologic Support Battalion of Fort Meade, Maryland.
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According to personnel records obtained by Port City Daily, Hellonen enlisted in August 2017. He was assigned to the 3rd Marine Raider Support Battalion at Camp Jejeune, located 53 miles northeast of Wilmington.
The men — all of whom work in military intelligence — each face four charges, including trespassing a restricted building, two counts of disorderly conduct and parading or picketing inside the U.S. Capitol.
FBI special agent Kelsey Randall and the FBI Joint Team Terrorism Task Force pored over evidence for two years regarding those involved in the riots. The bureau identified the men by comparing pictures taken outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to video of the attacks once rioters moved inside the building. They verified identification upon seeing each driver’s licenses and their military common access cards.
A witness — also a Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune — identified Hellonen from footage the FBI provided featuring the Capitol building riots.
Documents detail Hellonen was wearing a dark colored jacket and pants and carrying a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag.
The three men stayed inside the Capitol for almost an hour, according to the feds, entering through the Senate wing and moving through the rotunda and Memorial Door.
The FBI secured a search warrant for Verizon tower information nearby to match with the Marines’ cellphone numbers. It showed the phones were in use in the vicinity of the Capitol during the same hours of the siege, between 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Video surveillance also reveals Hellonen, Coomer and Abate taking phone calls, capturing videos and pictures of events unfolding. Court documents mention the men put a MAGA hat on one of the statues and proceeded to pose with it for pictures.
Abate also revealed in a June 1, 2022 interview to receive security clearance through the military that he entered the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6 with “two buddies.” He detailed they walked through while his friend “smoked a cigarette” and “tried not to get hit with tear gas.”
Data provided by Facebook to the FBI indicates Coomer sent direct messages under the handle “mrcoomer08” to a user on Nov. 7, 2020, writing “the election was unfair and fraudulent.”
Coomer also posted photos of the riots on social media, captioned: “Glad to be apart [sic] of history.”
After the riots, on Jan. 31, 2021, the feds intercepted a conversation Coomer had on Instagram: “Everything in this country is corrupt. We honestly need a fresh restart. I’m waiting for the boogaloo.”
The user, 1790755272, responded by asking what a boogaloo is.
“Civil War 2,” Coomer responded.
A Pentagon spokesperson for the Marine Corps, Cpt. Ryan Bruce, wrote to PCD: “We are aware of an investigation and the allegations. The Marine Corps is fully cooperating with the appropriate authorities in support of the investigation.”
Bruce did not answer if reprimanding actions had taken place, as all three Marines remain on active duty.
From Indiana, Coomer enlisted in September 2018 and was promoted to corporal in June 2020, records show. He works as an intelligence surveillance reconnaissance system engineer and has been honored three times in his military career — with a Navy and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and National Defense Service Medal.
Hellonen, a special communication signals analyst who received his sergeant rank in August 2021, received the same medals.
Abate, from Virginia, enlisted in July 2018 and is a special comm signals analyst. He received his sergeant rank a year after the Capitol attacks, on Feb. 2, 2022. He joins his colleagues in receiving the same medals, as well as a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Unit Commendation Medal.
The three are the latest active duty men charged since Marine Corps Maj. Christopher Warnagiris was arrested with nine counts in May 2021, according to Military.com. Warnagiris pleaded not guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, obstruction of justice and other crimes.
The Department of Justice database shows almost 1,000 people have been charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Its wanted list still has roughly 350 people on it.
By press, George Washington University’s Program on Extremism ranked North Carolina 16th in the amount of arrests made — 21 — in the siege. Founded in 2015, the Program on Extremism is a leading research center with a panel of global experts including government officials, law enforcement, scholars, former extremists, and counter-extremism practitioners.
It ranks the top three states from which defendants hail as Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 86% being males around the median age of 39.
It lists 123 defendants with military backgrounds, showing five in military reserves, three in the National Guard, two in basic training and now four in active duty.
Below is the affidavit from the FBI.
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