A Tennessee bartender accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with zip-ties in tow will soon see his menu options expand dramatically while under home detention, according to court filings.
Eric Gavelek Munchel, 31, who worked at Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk in Nashville until late 2020, was given permission this week by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to “download and use the UberEats app on his smartphone,” an April 13 order states.
Munchel, who allegedly participated in the sacking of the Capitol building alongside his mother, will also be allowed to use his employer’s “internet-enabled computer for business purposes,” Lamberth ruled. Last year, Lamberth gave Munchel the green light to call his mom on Mother’s Day, despite bail conditions directing him to “avoid all contact… with… co-defendants except through counsel or as otherwise authorized through Pretrial Services.”
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A previous filing, which presumably includes the reasoning behind Munchel’s request, remains sealed. However, a source with direct knowledge of the case told The Daily Beast on Friday night that Munchel isn’t looking for more culinary options, but a chance to be an UberEats driver.
“His job is outdoors, and on bad weather days he can’t work, so he wants to be able to deliver food for people,” the source said.
Munchel is allowed out of the house for work, for doctor’s visits, to meet with his lawyer, and religious services.
Before Munchel was arrested by the FBI on Jan. 10, 2021, he came to be known by online sleuths as “Zip Tie Guy” for an infamous photo said to show him in the Senate gallery, wearing tactical gear and carrying a fistful of plastic handcuffs.
In the original complaint charging Munchel with entering a restricted building or grounds and violent entry or disorderly conduct, FBI Special Agent Carlos Fontanez noted Munchel had been “dressed for combat,” wearing “a patch on the center of his chest displaying the ‘Punisher’ comic book character, as well as a Tennessee ‘thin blue line’ patch… The person who appears to be Munchel is also depicted in these photographs carrying plastic restraints and an item in a holster on his right hip. In my experience, flex cuffs are used by law enforcement to restrain and/or detain subjects.”
The day of the Capitol siege, Munchel was questioned by police at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, according to the complaint. Munchel, dressed in camouflage pants and a black holster, was carrying a taser at the time, it says. He told officers he “possessed the taser for self-protection as he had participated at the pro-Trump rally.”
Munchel and his mom, nurse Lisa Marie Eisenhart, both pleaded not guilty and were released on bond in March 2021. Munchel was instructed by Lamberth to, among other things, turn in his passport and not drink to excess. However, that September, Munchel was slapped with a pretrial violation after the friend whose sofa he was staying on kicked him out. Like Munchel’s UberEats request, the report detailing the incident is sealed. But prosecutors subsequently filed a motion that made mention of Munchel’s “contributive behavior to his eviction,” and asked the judge to bar him from any alcohol use whatsoever.
Munchel was then put under his older brother’s supervision while out on bail.
Four months earlier, Munchel asked for—and was granted—approval to call his mother on Mother’s Day.
“Mr. Munchel has not communicated with his mother since January 10, 2021,” the request stated. “He would like to call his mother on Mother’s Day… Pursuant to the spirit of the Court’s release order, Mr. Munchel agrees to refrain from discussing any aspect of the case during a Mother’s Day call with his mother.”
A detention memo filed by prosecutors shortly after Munchel’s arrest says he and his mother “traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally…where he intended to protest the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election.” The filing cites interviews Munchel gave to reporters on the day of the attempted insurrection during which he said he was prepared to “rise up” and “fight if necessary.”
Munchel stashed weapons in a bag outside the Capitol, according to the feds, and “gleefully acquired several sets of plastic handcuffs as he walked through the Capitol and entered the Senate chamber, where only moments earlier the Vice President of the United States was certifying the results of the 2020 Presidential election.”
In a video reviewed by investigators and described in the memo, Munchel says to his mom, “They’re gonna use this against us as hard as they can.” To which she replies, “I don’t care, that’s fine, I don’t care.”
“We ain’t playing fucking nice no god damn more,” says Munchel.
In a Jan. 10, 2021, search of Munchel’s home, FBI agents found “approximately 15 firearms, including assault rifles, a sniper rifle with a tripod, other rifles, shotguns, and pistols, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition,” the detention memo reveals. “Agents also located a drum-style magazine elsewhere in the residence.”
A phone number listed in Munchel’s name was out of service on Friday night. His lawyer, Sandra Gayle Roland, did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
