A case of mistaken identity earlier this year led law enforcement officers to search and damage the home of Marilyn and Paul Hueper in Homer.
The couple was shocked and mystified that the federal agents left with their electronics, such as laptops, phones and tablets. Federal agents were convinced that Marilyn was the person who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Jan. 6 incursion into the U.S. Capitol by protesters of the Electoral College certification. They even told her so.
In the botched raid, the FBI broke through their door and, along with Capitol Police and other law enforcement, held them at gunpoint for hours before telling them what they were searching for: The Pelosi laptop. They took the Heuper’s copy of the U.S. Constitution with them as evidence against Marilyn Hueper.
Now, the Justice Department has unsealed charges against a New York mother and son, who is also accused of stealing an escape hood from the Senate Chamber and entering House Speaker Pelosi’s conference room on January 6.
Maryann Mooney-Rondon, 55, and her son Rafael Rondon, 23, were arrested Friday and appeared in Syracuse, New York before a judge, charged with helping to steal Pelosi’s laptop. Agents reportedly seized a sawed-off shotgun in the dwelling of Rafael Rondon during their arrest of the two. The two were released on pre-trial conditions.
The Watertown, N.Y. mother has admitted to helping steal the laptop by giving gloves and a scarf to a man who actually stole it, according to reports from Syracuse news media, whose source material were unsealed court documents. The son is also charged with stealing an “escape hood” from Pelosi’s office. Escape hoods have respiratory filters that give members of Congress about 30 minutes of protection from certain contaminants.
The most serious charge is obstructing an official proceedings. The six other charges are misdemeanors: theft of government property, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, illegally entering and remaining in the Gallery of Congress, illegally entering and remaining in areas of the Capitol Building; and disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building.
Read: Add Homer raid to list of times feds botched a raid in Alaska
Since the federal raid of her home in Homer, Marilyn Hueper has been added to the TSA no-fly list and has said she feels targeted by law enforcement in her own home town, where she was stopped and accused of driving under the influence this summer, a charge she said was motivated.
