Joe Biggs biography: 13 things about US Capitol rioter from Ormond Beach, Florida

Joseph “Joe” Randall Biggs is an American man born in Ormond Beach, Volusia County, Florida, United States. He supported 45th U.S. president Donald Trump.

In December 2020, Biggs and other individuals started encouraging others to attend a protest in Washington, D.C., USA on January 6, 2021. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. He was a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group founded in September 2016, and a self-described organizer of certain of the group’s events. _(a)
2. On August 17, 2019, he and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio congratulated each other as they returned to the march starting-point over the Hawthorn Bridge as The End Domestic Terrorism rally at Tom McCall Waterfront Park concluded in Portland, Oregon, USA. _(b)
3. On December 29, 2020, he wrote on Parler, “we will not be attending DC in colors. We will be blending in as one of you. You won’t see us. You’ll even think we are you… We are going to smell like you, move like you, and look like you. The only thing we’ll do that’s us is think like us! Jan 6th is gonna be epic.” _(a)
4. On January 6, 2021, he went to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. Wearing glasses, a dark knit hat and a blue and grey plaid shirt, he joined other supporters of Trump and they breached the building while a joint session of Congress was certifying the vote of the Electoral College and affirming Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election. _(a)
5. In an interview with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on January 18, 2021, he claimed that on January 6, 2021, the doors of the U.S. Capitol building were wide open and he entered without forcing entry. He said he had no idea who planned the insurrection. _(a)
6. On January 19, 2021, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather signed a criminal complaint filed against him by an FBI special agent. For his participation in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, he was charged with obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority and willfully and knowingly engaging in disorderly conduct to impede a session of Congress. _(b)
7. He was arrested in Florida on January 20, 2021, the same day Biden was inaugurated as the 46th U.S. president along with Kamala Harris as the 49th U.S. vice president. After appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry Kidd in Orlando, Florida, he was released, subject to home detention and allowed to travel to Washington, D.C. When asked about Biden being the new U.S. president, he said, “That’s the way it is.” _(b)(c)(d)
8. On April 19, 2021, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered him and his fellow Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean be arrested and jailed. On April 22, 2021, he turned himself in and was booked into the Seminole County Jail in Sanford, Florida. _(e)(f)
9. On December 14, 2021, Kelly denied his request for bond. _(f)
10. On December 27, 2021, his attorney John Daniel Hull filed a notice that he was appealing Kelly’s order that denied his request for bond. _(f)
11. On June 6, 2022, he, Tarrio, Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola were each charged with with seditious conspiracy. _(g)
12. On May 4, 2023, a jury in Washington, D.C. found him, Nordean, Tarrio, Rehl and Pezzola guilty of seditious conspiracy. _(g)
13. He was 39 years old when Kelly sentenced him on August 31, 2023 to 17 years in prison. _(h)

If you have information about someone who participated in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, call 1-800-CALL-FBI. You may also submit relevant photos and videos to the FBI.

_SOURCES:

• _{a. U.S. Department of Justice}
• _{b. NBC News}
• _{c. The Daily Beast}
• _{d. WESH}
• _{e. Associated Press}
• _{f. The Daytona Beach News-Journal}
• _g. CNN
• _{h. Washington Post}