FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A 43-year-old South Florida man is facing federal criminal charges in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol after a relative tipped authorities off to his participation, according to court documents obtained on Wednesday.
Joseph Julius LaPoint was booked into the Broward County jail on a U.S. Marshals hold on Friday and appeared in Fort Lauderdale federal court on Tuesday. His case is set to be transferred to Washington, D.C. federal court.
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A woman described as his “fiance/girlfriend,” Nicole Marie Joyner, 45, is accused of joining him in the mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump, who were attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. It’s not clear if she’s been arrested yet.
A federal criminal complaint states that soon after the attack, a relative informed the FBI that LaPoint posted videos to his Facebook page claiming he had been inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and had videos of himself and Joyner “approaching and entering the Capitol.”
Authorities say LaPoint posted a photo of himself “standing on a window ledge inside an office within the U.S. Capitol building.”
They said location data also placed LaPoint “within and around” the Capitol on the day of the riot.
The criminal complaint also includes Instagram comments, allegedly from Joyner, affirming she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Authorities said in responding to a Jan. 7 post about how members of far-left group Antifa were responsible for storming the capitol, Joyner replied, “They were escorted by police I saw it my self (sic).”
Such theories have been debunked.
Authorities said on Jan. 6, 2022, LaPoint posted a video to his TikTok account, featuring Joyner, with the title “HAD A BLAST one year ago” and the caption “me and babe stormed the Capitol with the rest of America.”
The video depicts them on Capitol grounds, the complaint states; facial recognition software also turned up more photos and videos of the two at the Capitol.
The pair are facing charges of 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 and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
LaPoint posted a $25,000 bond after his court appearance Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately clear when he was set to appear in Washington court.
No city of residence was listed in federal court documents. According to several traffic citations filed in Broward County court, LaPoint lived in Pompano Beach as recently as 2016.
He is no longer listed in Broward jail records.
Read the criminal complaint: