Milton man accused in Capitol riot faces new charges

Bruno Cua, 18, of Milton, has been charged by the FBI with five counts related to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office

Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office

Bruno Cua, 18, of Milton, has been charged by the FBI with five counts related to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday the government is adding new charges against the Milton 18-year-old accused of assaulting a federal officer during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. on Jan. 6.

At bond hearing for Bruno Joseph Cua in federal court in Atlanta, prosecutor Ryan Buchanan said Cua will face a 12-count federal indictment related to the Capitol siege.

Cua was arrested last Friday on five charges, including the assault on a federal officer, civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and entering a restricted building and violently demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

Cua remained held without bond after the judge, U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Georgia Alan Baverman, ordered the bond hearing to be continued on Friday. Buchanan said the additional charges against Cua will be outlined then.

Prior to the continuance, Cua’s father, Bruno Cua, testified that he and his wife drove their son to Washington, D.C., to participate in the rally near the White House featuring former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6.

During the speech, Trump exhorted the crowd to march to the Capitol, where Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were counting the electoral college votes of the presidential election.

After Trump’s speech, the elder Cua said the family walked toward the Capitol but decided to stand back as people began climbing scaffolding and pushing and shoving law enforcement.

Cua said his son wanted to get a closer look, and they soon lost him in the crowd.

At roughly the same time Cua was in federal court in Atlanta, video of the Milton teen marauding on the U.S. Senate floor during the Capitol insurrection was briefly shown to senators hearing Trump’s impeachment.

House impeachment managers included the video of Cua and other rioters riffling the desks of senators to drive home how close the insurrectionists came to Pence, senators, staff and others, who had been evacuated from the chamber only minutes earlier.

One of the charges against Cua includes being on “the floor or gallery of either House of Congress.”

In other developments, another Georgia man facing two misdemeanor counts related to the Capitol insurrection, Benjamin Henry Torre of Dawsonville, was released Tuesday on a $20,000 signature bond.