A Michigan “internet pornography personality” who goes by the name “God Hypnotic” has been taken into custody by the FBI for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Surveillance footage shows that Paul Caloia climbed into the building through a broken window and was on Capitol grounds for at least two hours, recording cell phone video and chanting with rioters.
A FBI report from a special agent at the Detroit Field Office stated that on Jan. 12, 2021, the law enforcement agency’s National Threat Operations Center was tipped off by “Witness 1” about Caloia “bragging” on Skype chats about going inside the Capitol. “Another individual in the chat asked God Hypnotic why he went to the Capitol. At that point, Witness 1 said that God Hypnotic backtracked and said he went to the Capitol for reporting purposes,” the document stated.
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The FBI received public photos of Caloia from another source, who claimed the man looked like “Insider 805,” nicknamed “RightWingRedWing,” from the online intelligence group Sedition Hunters’ records. The community, which has helped the FBI identify hundreds of Capitol rioters, named Caloia after his Detroit Red Wings hat. The anonymous source pointed out the man in U.S. Capitol Police video and provided a link to his Twitter account, @CashHypnotic.
The FBI declared they also found a video believed to be from Caloia on Jan. 6. A witness who asserted they went to high school with the suspect saved the recording. “They came in with like, guns and shit, like ARs, and they have us face down on the ground,” Caloia said in the video.
The report also stated that the FBI located Caloia using his mobile phone number provided by Verizon and tried to interview him at his residence on March 6, 2023. They knocked on his door three times and yelled out his name. “The individual inside responded, ‘yeah?’ CALOIA refused to talk or open the door,” the agent wrote.
Based on the evidence, law enforcement handed Caloia four misdemeanor charges.
