Mom of ‘zip tie guy’ arrested for her role in US Capitol insurrection, feds say
The mother of a man seen carrying plastic restraints after storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has been arrested in Nashville for her role in the riots, according to federal prosecutors.
FBI agents took Lisa Marie Eisenhart into custody Saturday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee said in a tweet. She is charged with conspiracy, civil disorder, entering a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct, court filings show.
Eisenhart is the mother of 30-year-old Eric Munchel, also known as “zip tie guy.”
Surveillance footage showed Eisenhart and Munchel making their way to the Capitol on Jan. 6 from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C., where prosecutors said Eisenhart booked a room for four days using her Georgia driver’s license. Wearing a plaid shirt, tactical vest, jeans and glasses, the 57-year-old from Woodstock, Georgia, was then photographed with her son on the Capitol grounds shortly before the insurrection, according to court documents.
Capitol Riot Arrest-Lisa Eisenhart was taken into custody by FBI Agents in Nashville a short time ago on charges relating to the U.S. Capitol riots. Charges include conspiring with her son, Eric Munchel to violate federal statutes. pic.twitter.com/lgjqrYN8j2
— U.S Attorney-Middle District of Tennessee (@USAO_MDTN) January 16, 2021
Video on social media later showed the pair walking up a stairway into the Capitol, prosecutors said. They were also seen on footage “in the vicinity of a mob of individuals that are physically attacking two Capitol Police officers guarding entry into the Senate chambers,” according to court documents.
Eisenhart and her son then chased the police officers with the mob, with Munchel shouting over a banister at the officers after they got away, videos show.
Prosecutors said mom and son were carrying zip tie restraints — also known as flex cuffs — and were photographed in the Senate chambers a short time later.
In an interview with the British newspaper The Times, Eisenhart reportedly said they’d gone into the Capitol as “observers” but also characterized it as “kind of flexing muscles.”
“This country was founded on revolution,” she told the newspaper, according to court filings. “I’d rather die a 57-year-old woman than live under oppression. I’d rather die and would rather fight.”
BREAKING: Eric Gavelek Munchel, who brought zip ties to the Capitol insurrection, has been arrested by the FBI. pic.twitter.com/xi36sIJwk6
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) January 10, 2021
Munchel was arrested Jan. 10 and faces similar charges.
Prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said Munchel was photographed in the Capitol “carrying plastic restraints, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.”
One photograph in particular shows Munchel stepping over a railing in the Senate chamber with a handful of flex cuffs typically used as a form of restraint by law enforcement. Investigators believed Munchel carrying the restraints was a sign “politicians inside the federal building were going to be tied up,” The Miami Herald reported.