A man with Georgia roots arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol as part of a mob of Donald Trump supporters has violated the terms of his bond, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth to place 30-year-old Eric Gavelek Munchel under the supervision of his older brother after he was tossed out of a Nashville, Tennessee, apartment where he had been sleeping on a sofa for several months.
In a motion filed this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., prosecutors also asked that Munchel, a bartender, be prohibited from consuming alcohol, noting that his “behavior” contributed to his eviction.
“Should the Defendant again fail to comply with conditions of release while under the supervision of his new third party custodian, the United States will move to revoke his pretrial release,” prosecutors wrote Thursday.
Munchel’s attorney did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Munchel is charged with 11 criminal counts related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Photos and video taken that day show him and his mother, Atlanta-area nurse Lisa Marie Eisenhart, inside the Capitol and on the Capitol grounds. Munchel provided one of the enduring images of the Capitol riot when photos circulated online showed him clambering over seats in the U.S. Senate with a handful of plastic wrist restraints, earning him the nickname “zip-tie guy” by online sleuths working to identify the rioters.
Munchel and Eisenhart were arrested in the days after the riot and initially were held without bond. They appealed that decision and were finally released on bond at the end of March. Munchel was released to the custody of a friend identified in court records as “Mrs. Miller,” who allowed him to stay in her two-bedroom apartment with four other adults.
Last month, Munchel filed a motion asking to be transferred to the custody of his brother, saying he did not “want to impose on (Miller’s) extraordinary generosity any longer.” In the motion filed this week, prosecutors noted Munchel’s “contributive behavior to his eviction” and asked the judge to order Munchel to “not use alcohol, at all, while on pretrial release.”
Munchel grew up in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and attended Fannin County High School. Prior to leaving the state, he had a number of brushes with the law, including arrests for marijuana possession and battery.
If convicted of their current charges, Munchel and Eisenhart potentially could face years in federal prison.
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