- November 12, 2024
Feds charge Oakland County man in U.S. Capitol breach case as Trump wins reelection
Federal prosecutors have unsealed criminal charges against an Oakland County man accused
of breaking into the U.S. Capitol along with former President Donald Trump supporters
during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Adam Robert Schrader, 39, an auto industry engineer from Madison Heights, was charged
with four misdemeanors: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building;
knowingly and with the intent to disrupt the orderly conduct of government business;
disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; parading, demonstrating or picketing in
a Capitol building.
Schrader is portrayed as a non-violent trespasser who broke into the U.S. Capitol and left a
digital trail for federal agents to follow. They tracked the movements of his cellphone inside
the U.S. Capitol during a 63-minute period on Jan. 6 thanks to surveillance cameras and
GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth data obtained via a search warrant served on Google, according to
the criminal case filing.
Schrader is at least the 33rd person from Michigan — and among more than 1,500
nationwide — charged with Jan. 6 crimes that include breaking into the U.S. Capitol as
Congress met to formally count electoral votes following Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020
presidential election. That group includes former Michigan Republican gubernatorial
candidate Ryan Kelley and an amateur porn “personality” from Macomb County.
The case was unsealed in Washington, D.C., on election day, four days after Schrader
surrendered and appeared in handcuffs and shackles during a hearing in federal court in Detroit. The hearing was tense as a prosecutor, Schrader’s lawyer and a federal magistrate
judge focused on the delay in filing charges and debated whether Schrader would be allowed
to travel, including to the nation’s capital, without court permission during another
contentious presidential election cycle.
“Why are these charges being brought now, three years later?” Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge
David Grand asked a federal prosecutor during the court hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Moon told the magistrate judge, “There are thousands and
thousands of these cases. It is a misdemeanor. And so, simply by severity, that they are
getting to misdemeanors this late in the game is not surprising to me.”
“The cases I’ve worked on started with assaults on federal officers,” Moon added. “The
government has pulled in resources from across the country… and that just takes time.”
Schrader’s case is among the first to emerge since Trump won re-election Tuesday. Trump
has compared Jan. 6 rioters to the more than 120,000 people of Japanese origin incarcerated
on U.S. soil during World War II and has suggested he would pardon the rioters.
FBI agents tried to question Schrader five months after the riot. They arrived at his home but
he refused to talk beyond confirming that it was his Gmail account investigators used to track
his movements on Jan. 6, according to the court filing.
Investigators obtained surveillance footage from near the Senate Wing Door during the riot
that showed an individual who appeared to match Schrader’s driver’s license photo.
The footage showed Schrader entering the U.S. Capitol and walking toward a hallway while
carrying his cellphone, the government alleges.
In February 2023, more than two years after the riot, investigators searched the engineer’s
Google account. They found digital receipts for food, transportation and lodging in the
nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, the government alleged.
Six months ago, in May, FBI investigators interviewed an official in the human resources
department at Schrader’s employer and questioned his supervisor. The supervisor confirmed
the individual seen inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was Schrader, according to the court
filing.
The investigation lingered until Friday. That is when Schrader surrendered and was released
on $10,000 unsecured bond.
His lawyer, John Freeman, criticized bond conditions that include having Schrader remove
firearms from his home, surrender his passport and prohibit him from traveling to
Washington, D.C., without court permission, except for case-related visits.
“This seems like an effort by the government to come down with a hammer on someone
who’s presumed innocent,” Freeman told the magistrate judge. “This is still America.”
“He is presumed innocent and it is still America and a free country,” Grand said. “We also
have to take into consideration the context of where we are today.”
Schrader’s lawyer criticized the conduct of FBI investigators.
“They knew about my representation and they tried to interview my client at his place of
employment earlier this year,” Freeman said in court. “They did an absolute end-around his
right to counsel in trying to contact him.”
The travel restrictions are sensible, the prosecutor argued. All Schrader has to do is request
permission to travel and give the government a chance to consider the request, Moon said.
“I don’t think it is unreasonable at all to suggest that Mr. Schrader not be in D.C. given his
alleged crimes here,” the prosecutor said.
The Associated Press contributed.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
@robertsnellnews