A Garner man was arrested Monday by the FBI for storming the Capitol on January 6 during the violent insurrection that left five people dead.
Stephen Maury Baker, of Garner, was charged with trespassing a restricted building and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the FBI. Baker was arrested at his Garner home without incident, the FBI reported.
According to the federal affidavit, Baker, who goes by the alias “Stephen Ignoramus,” livestreamed the attack on social media.
The FBI received multiple tips regarding Baker in the days after the attack and footage from his Youtube channel were widely shared.
In the video, which appears to have been deleted, Baker is seen among the mob at an unspecified entrance to the Capitol. He is seen breaking into the building with others in the crowd. About a minute into the video the stream is cut off and Baker says “I can’t go in the chamber, my stream drops.”
Then, he appears on camera and addresses his followers.
“Alright what’s up y’all?” he says. “How you guys doing? Super-intense. Welcome, I’m Stephen. I’m a live-streamer and a musician. We’re having fun, huh? Repeat and believe in Jesus.”
Although Baker was arrested in Garner, he appears to have recently lived in Washington D.C. and worked at Middle C Music. A Facebook post by the business claims he was fired after they became aware of his participation in the violent raid.
“Mr. Baker hid his online persona from us and as soon as we learned of his activities he was let go,” the post states.
Oddly enough, Stephen Maury Baker isn’t the only Wake County musician involved in the insurrection. Another “Steve Baker” on Facebook who lists his home as Raleigh blogged that he too participated in the raid.
A post on his blog, The Pragmatic Constitutionalist, describes in detail how he willingly entered the Capitol building with the violent mob that day.
“At 2:31 p.m. I entered the Capitol Rotunda,” the other Steve Baker writes. “By this time the initial surge of bodies was spreading throughout the building, so it was a much thinner group in the larger hall. It looked like a normal day of tourism in the building. People were calmly milling about, taking photos and videos as on any other day, save the jubilant shouting of “This is our House!”
Steve Baker, who also moonlights as a David Bowie impersonator and lists “vocals at Bull City Syndicate” as one of his jobs on Facebook, told the INDY he attended the rally to document it. He admitted that while he’s not a credentialed journalist, videos he took during the attack have been circulated.
Steve Baker describes himself as a libertarian.
He believes the event was organized and police allowed the riot to occur. He was adamant he did not commit any acts of violence while inside the Capitol, though says he witnessed other rioters breaking windows and kicking down doors.
“There was a percentage of people there that were there with ill intent, and all the other people who were there for the rally said, “Holy crap, we can go into the building!” Baker said.
When asked if he was worried he might be charged with trespassing for entering the Capitol building, Steve Baker said it’s possible given the amount of footage he’s seen of himself during the riot.
“Can I be charged with unlawful entry to a restricted building?” Steve Baker told the INDY. “Yeah, I actually think that that could happen, and if it happens, I’ll fight it.”
Follow Interim Managing Editor Leigh Tauss on Twitter or send an email to ltauss@indyweek.com.
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