A St. Joseph couple who documented their breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6 — including a photo of the woman entering through a broken window — now face charges for their actions.
Nearly two-and-a-half years after a pro-Trump mob stormed the building, Steven and Kimberly Dragoo were charged last week with four misdemeanor counts.
The two voluntarily surrendered and appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The government did not ask for them to be detained, and their next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday via video conference in federal court in Washington, D.C.
They are charged with 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 or grounds; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The Dragoos are the 26th and 27th Missouri residents to be charged in connection with the riot. The court documents do not say why it took 29 months from the time authorities interviewed the Dragoos to when they charged the couple.
The FBI interviewed the Dragoos on Jan. 21, 2021, at the agency’s St. Joseph office after receiving multiple tips that they had invaded the Capitol, according to the probable cause affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.
Kimberly Dragoo, now 54, and Steven Dragoo, 65, “advised they had been following a ‘Stop the Steal’ Facebook page, which provided them with details for their attendance at the Trump rallies in Washington, D.C. on December 12, 2020 and January 6, 2021,” the affidavit says.
Kimberly Dragoo said she had started a similar “Stop the Steal” Facebook page for Missouri, it says.
“During that interview both Kimberly Dragoo and Steven Dragoo admitted to their presence inside the Capitol and stated that they had not done anything wrong,” the affidavit says. “Steven Dragoo stated that he took photographs of his wife inside the Capitol using his cell phone. Kimberly Dragoo and Steven Dragoo confirmed they were the people in the tipster photographs that have been provided to the FBI.”
They told the FBI that they flew to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021. The next morning, the affidavit says, the Dragoos attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse, then went with others to the Capitol.
The couple told the FBI that while on the Capitol grounds, Kimberly Dragoo posted videos on Facebook of her narrating what she was seeing on the northwest side of the building. In one video, the affidavit says, Kimberly Dragoo stated, “They stormed the Capitol…We got stuck in the crowd for like an hour…I’m not getting back in it again.”
Smoke is visible throughout her video, the affidavit says, along with temporary fencing that is clearly marked “Area Closed” in large letters. In another video posted on Kimberly Dragoo’s Facebook page, it says, she is heard saying, “This part is all barricaded” and “These people all went through it…They’re not supposed to be up here.”
Flash bang diversionary devices can be heard going off during the video, according to the affidavit, and loud emergency vehicle sirens are wailing in the background. Police cars arrive, and gray smoke can be seen rising from the area.
Kimberly Dragoo also said on the video that she filmed a large group of Metropolitan Police officers arriving in riot gear to jeers and objects being thrown from the crowd. After filming those scenes, the affidavit says, the Dragoos moved across the Capitol grounds and onto the terrace of the Senate Wing door.
Steven Dragoo told the FBI that at about 3:15 p.m., he took a picture of his wife posing just outside a broken window of the Capitol. The photo, the affidavit says, was given to the FBI through tipsters.
Capitol closed circuit TV footage shows that the Dragoos entered the building through a broken window near the Senate Wing door, the document says.
“Kimberly Dragoo and Steven Dragoo admitted that Kimberly Dragoo entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken window next to an open door near the U.S. Capitol, which Steven Dragoo photographed using his cellular telephone,” the affidavit says. “Kimberly Dragoo thought it was ‘funny’ and stated that she was curious about the broken window.”
The Dragoos exited less than two minutes later through the Senate Wing door and saw officers trying to barricade the window they’d just entered, it says. Security footage shows them re-entering the Capitol through the Senate Wing door around 3:23 p.m.
The Dragoos walked with a crowd down a corridor, the affidavit says, then returned down the corridor when confronted by a line of officers. Steven Dragoo provided the FBI with several photos he took of Kimberly Dragoo inside the Capitol, it says. Security footage shows that the couple left the building through the Senate Wing door about 3:32 p.m.
Tipsters gave the FBI a photo of Kimberly Dragoo being escorted by officers, possibly out of the building, the affidavit says. That photo was published in a Jan. 7, 2021, article in St. Joseph News-Press NOW about Dragoo being inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In the article, Kimberly Dragoo said that “Where I was, everybody was happy. I didn’t know until getting up to the Capitol building that everybody was in there.”
“…I wasn’t (getting arrested) and the cops were really nice to me. I mean I talked to them and told them ‘Thank you for your service.’”