Iowa man charged in Capitol riot may be returned to jail
Aug 20, 2021, 12:55 PM | Updated: 1:30 pm
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A prosecutor says an Iowa man seen in a videotaped confrontation with a police officer during the Capitol insurrection should be returned to jail until trial because he violated terms of his release by watching anti-government internet videos about the Jan. 6 attack.
Douglas Jensen was released in July after spending six months in jail. At the time, Jensen told a judge that he had been duped by QAnon conspiracy theories, saying he “bought into a pack of lies” and had since experienced a “wake-up call.”
Thirty days later, on Aug. 13, a pretrial services officer found Jensen in his garage in Des Moines listening to the news on a video-sharing website similar to YouTube that features anti-vaccine and anti-government content, according to a court filing Thursday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips wrote that the swift violation confirms what the government and the judge suspected all along: “that Jensen’s alleged disavowal of QAnon was just an act.”
Jensen’s defense attorney Christopher Davis declined to comment and said he planned to file a reply on Monday.
Video of the Jan. 6 insurrection shows Jensen wearing a T-shirt bearing the letter “Q,” a symbol of the QAnon conspiracy theory, when he joined a mob that approached Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman inside the building and followed the officer up two flights of stairs.
In releasing Jensen, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said he didn’t put too much weight on Jensen’s claims. He also told Jensen that if he accessed the internet, he could be returned to jail.
Court documents say that when the officer found him this month, Jensen was using an iPhone that he said he got from his wife two weeks earlier, even though his wife had promised to help him comply with the judge’s directions. He admitted to watching additional content promoting conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election.
“Contrary to what Jensen claimed at his bond hearing, he is still very much bought into QAnon’s `pack of lies,'” Phillips wrote.
Jensen, 41, faces charges including civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding a law enforcement officer.
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