A Chicago woman was arrested Monday on federal charges alleging she participated in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol with her brother, a Chicago police officer who is already facing trial.
Agnieszka Chwiesiuk, 29, of Chicago, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with four misdemeanor counts, including entering a restricted government building and disorderly conduct. Each count carries a maximum term of one year in prison upon conviction.
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Chwiesiuk was arrested at her Chicago home at about 6 a.m. Monday, according to prosecutors. She appeared hours later before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes, who ordered her released on a $10,000 appearance bond, which does not require her to post any money.
As part of the conditions of her release, Chwiesiuk was ordered not to talk about her case or the ongoing federal investigation of the U.S. Capitol breach with her brother, Karol Chwiesuik, who was hit with five charges in 2021 stemming from his alleged actions that day.
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Agnieszka Chwiesiuk appeared in court dressed in a black shirt and pants, black-and-white sneakers and shackles around her ankles. She answered with a soft, “Yes,” as the judge asked her if she understood the charges and her rights under the law.
According to the complaint, Agnieszka Chwiesiuk was identified as the woman seen wearing a red knit cap with white and blue stripes and a face mask with upside-down American flags, accompanying Karol Chwiesiuk as he entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken-out Senate wing door.
Surveillance footage captured the siblings walking through the Capitol crypt area appearing to film the mob.
Her brother was accused of breaking into Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office with the throng that stormed the building and taking a selfie showing him grinning and wearing a hoodie with the Chicago Police Department logo on it.
Those allegations were not part of the complaint filed against Agnieszka.
When agents went to arrest Karol Chwiesiuk at the family’s home on the Northwest Side in June 2021, his sister “spontaneously” asked if they were going to arrest her too, according to the complaint filed Monday.
Agents said then that they were not taking her into custody. However, the FBI later recovered photographs from her brother’s damaged cellphone that showed both of them attending a rally by President Donald Trump and later inside the Capitol, according to the complaint.
Karol Chwiesiuk, a Chicago police officer since 2018 most recently assigned to patrol the Harrison District, was stripped of his police powers after his arrest. He has pleaded not guilty and a trial is tentatively set for May.
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His sister, meanwhile, was at least the 36th Illinoisan to be federally charged as part of the ongoing investigation into the Capitol attack, which prosecutors have described as one of the largest criminal investigations in American history.
Nationwide, at least 964 people have been arrested in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on charges stemming from the Capitol breach, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Earlier this month, James McNamara, of Chicago, who earned the online moniker #Railmixer after being seen allegedly using a metal railing to ram the doors of the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, was charged with attacking police officers and other violence.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
