A former government employee has been accused of falsely implicating multiple colleagues in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Michael Zapata on Thursday allegedly linked him to at least seven reports that identified public officials and contractors as participants in illegal activities as Congress certified President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election. His IP address was tracked by the FBI and he was arrested in Virginia.
Zapata claimed that some of these individuals openly shared anti-government conspiracy theories and participated in the storming of the Capitol. He also wrote on an FBI information site that one of the unscrupulous criminals intended to “find and execute politicians.”
But none of the people Zapata accused were in Washington, D.C., or involved in the deadly siege aimed at disrupting Biden's certification as the 46th president.
When would-be whistleblowers log into the FBI's reporting site, they agree to the terms of service, which read: “I understand that providing false information may result in fines and/or imprisonment.” There is a need.
Federal investigators said similar language in Zapata's alleged tip, the filing date classification, and the “technical artifacts used in the filing” indicate that the bad information was produced by the same person. He said it shows that it was done.
A criminal complaint filed Wednesday in federal court says the suspect sent false tips several times in February and another in April. Zapata allegedly forwarded information about the person he was trying to assemble, sometimes including name, age, employment history and nickname.
Zapata is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 23, according to Washington DC station WUSA 9. Zapata had previously worked with at least seven people he targeted.It is unclear why he chose his former colleague
