US Capital rioter fled to Ireland from Wisconsin to escape charges after posting YouTube videos of mob

A Wisconsin man who bolted to Ireland seeking asylum to dodge a jail stint for his role in the Capitol riot over three years ago has been hauled up by the police, a court filing reveals.

The document slaps Paul Kovacik with snubbing a court order to hand himself in and do time for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021, chaos at the Capitol.

Last month saw Kovacik, 56, arrested after he willingly flew back to the States from Ireland. He's now in a Chicago federal jail, with his release date penned for Sept. 8. However, if he's found guilty he could be looking at an extended stay behind bars.

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Kovacik told the authorities that he binned his asylum plea and headed home to the U. S. as he was missing it, a U. S. Marshals Service deputy's sworn statement says.

The FBI first slapped cuffs on Kovacik in June 2022. A year on, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton handed down Kovacik's sentence post his guilty plea to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

On the day of the riot, Kovacik captured footage of the damage done by the mob and later chucked it onto his YouTube channel, with titles like "Treason Against the United States is about to be committed," the prosecution argues. They also point out Kovacik's rap sheet includes 24 previous convictions.

Walton initially ordered Kovacik to report to prison on Aug. 22, 2023, but the judge agreed to extend that deadline to Nov. 1, 2023, after Kovacik requested more time for his seasonal employment at a theme park in Georgia.

The court issued a warrant for Kovacik's arrest after he flew to Dublin , Ireland, through Germany on the day that he was supposed to report to prison in Chicago.

Kovacik referred to himself as a "political prisoner" when investigators questioned him following his arrest last month at an arrival gate at MinneapolisSaint Paul International Airport, according to the deputy's affidavit.

Inside his luggage, authorities discovered documents related to his asylum request, which cited a fear of political persecution, the deputy wrote. The affidavit doesn't clarify whether the Irish government acted on Kovacik's request.

An attorney who represented Kovacik in his Capitol riot case declined to comment on the new charge.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack.

Several other Capitol riot defendants have become fugitives at different stages of their prosecutions.