A Kansas City U.S. Marine veteran whose participation in the Capitol storming was reported to the FBI by a fellow Marine he once supervised pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor Tuesday in federal court.
Carey Jon Walden entered a guilty plea to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. He appeared in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via video conference.
His sentencing is scheduled for Jan 19. Walden faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. He also is required to pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building. Prosecutors have said repairs to the building as a result of the Jan. 6 storming totaled about $1.4 million.
Walden, 48, is the fourth of 16 Missouri residents charged in the Capitol storming case to enter a guilty plea. St. Louis County resident Nicholas Reimler pleaded guilty on Sept. 17 to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, and Springfield residents Zachary Wilson and his wife, Kelsey Wilson — a former Christian school teacher — each pleaded guilty to the same charge on Sept. 27.
Authorities have arrested more than 650 people in connection with the Capitol storming. So far, about 100 have pleaded guilty, the majority to misdemeanors.
Walden was arrested May 28 in Kansas City and originally charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings. All counts were misdemeanors. The other counts were dropped as part of his plea agreement.
According to the charging document, the FBI received a tip around Jan. 17 that Walden had been inside the Capitol building on Jan. 6. He also posted a photo on his Facebook page that he took from the front of the Capitol, the document said. The FBI interviewed Walden on Feb. 3 at his Kansas City residence, it said, and he admitted that he was at the Capitol that day and entered the building through a broken window.
When shown a photocopy of the Capitol, Walden circled the spot where he thought he went inside and wrote, “That’s where I think I was during protest,” the document said. Then he signed, dated and wrote his date of birth on the photocopy.
“Walden also forwarded three videos along with four still photographs from his phone to the FBI,” the document said. “Walden stated the videos and photos were from his activities outside the US Capitol.”
When the FBI asked Walden to describe what he did inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, the document said, he wrote: “I, Carey J. Walden, climbed a wall into the Capitol building on 6 Jan 21, at approx 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm. I took pictures and videos of where I entered. I went into a broken window, which was already broken. I walked in a 15 SQ FT, area, witch (sic) there were police in a line guarding a passage way.”
Walden wrote that while inside, he took pictures and video and did not break anything. The police were present, he said, “and I was not asked to leave.”
“I fist bumped and ‘Devil horned’ the swat line,” he wrote, according to the document. “I left after about 5 minutes. I walked out after I heard that someone was shot. I was wearing blue jeans gray sweatshirt, blue respirator, red chiefs beanie. Had a backpack, with all of the belongings I have. I was not armed, nor had body armor. I am not a part of any hate groups. I went with a bus of Trump supports. I am a U.S Marine (inactive) veteran. These are my recollections of that day.”
The FBI also interviewed a man who served with Walden in the Marine Corps.
“Walden was his direct supervisor,” the document said. “The witness saw Walden post several ‘live videos’ on Facebook on January 6, 2021. The videos showed Walden climbing the walls and entering the Capitol. The witness took several screen shots of the posts and sent them to the FBI. He stated since then, the videos and photos have been deleted from Walden’s Facebook page.”
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