Two suburban men, one a retired professional boxer and another a convicted burglar, have been hit with federal charges alleging they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and scuffled with police while chanting “Whose House? Our House!”
The charges against Michael Mollo Jr., 44, and Emil Kozeluh, 41, are the first Chicago-area cases to be brought involving the events at the Capitol since the election earlier this week of Donald Trump, who repeatedly said on the campaign trail he’d consider issuing pardons if he returned to the White House.
Mollo, of Oak Lawn, and Kozeluh, of Palos Heights, were each charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with felony counts of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, as well as a host of misdemeanor charges, including civil disorder and unlawful demonstration, records show.
The complaint is dated Nov. 5 — the day of the presidential election.
Kozeluh was arrested by the FBI early Friday and is scheduled to make an initial appearance at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse later in the day, records show.
It was unclear from court records whether Mollo had been arrested as of Friday afternoon.
Kozeluh’s attorney Steve Greenberg, declined to comment. A lawyer for Mollo could not immediately be reached.
Cook County court records show that at the time of the Capitol riot, Kozeluh was out on bond on burglary charges alleging he and three accomplices drilled through the wall of an Orland Park Best Buy store and stole more than $10,000 in Apple MacBook computers. He pleaded guilty to burglary in 2022 and was sentenced to three years in prison, records show.
Mollo, meanwhile, was a heavyweight boxer nicknamed “Merciless” who went 21-7 in his professional career before retiring in 2017. His online bio states he currently runs a suburban boxing gym.
According to the criminal complaint, Mollo and Kozeluh were seen on various surveillance images together in the mob of protesters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and burst through a line of police trying to protect the doors on the building’s west terrace.
Kozeluh, dressed in an American flag sweatshirt, balaclava, and a red hat with the words “Trump 2020. NO MORE BULL(expletive)” was captured on video amid a crowd of rioters, yelling at police and giving them the middle finger as flash bangs were going off in the background, according to the complaint.
Mollo, meanwhile, who was wearing gloves with reinforced knuckles and a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag as a scarf, was seen screaming at officers, “They’re stealing our country!” as he used his upper body to bump one officer and grabbed another officer’s baton, the complaint stated.
When the officer with the baton tapped his body-worn camera and said, “You’re on camera,” Mollo backed up and replied, “No, I ain’t do nothin’” and pulled his scarf over his face, the charges alleged.
Both Mollo and Kozeluh later climbed the steps to the upper west terrace and were seen entering the building through the Senate wing door at about 2:20 p.m., the charges stated. Surveillance video showed the man chanting, “Whose House? Our House!” as they made their way down a hallway to the Capitol’s rotunda, where they pushed into a crowd that was trying to open the doors for rioters amassed outside.
With alarms blaring and glass breaking, the crowd successfully opened the doors, prompting both Mollo and Kozeluh to “celebrate,” with Kozeluh jumping and Mollo putting his arms in the air, the complaint stated. As officers tried to close the doors, Kozeluh used his body to block them and motioned other rioters through, the charges alleged.
Mollo and Kozeluh could be seen leaving the building at 2:47 p.m., after about half an hour inside, the complaint stated.
“After exiting, open source video shows Mollo giving another rioter a high-five and repeatedly shouting, “This is our House!” outside the rotunda lobby doors,” the complaint stated.
Mollo and Kozeluh are among more than 50 Illinoisans charged so far in the Capitol breach, an ongoing investigation that has been described by prosecutors as the largest criminal probe in the country’s history.
Nationwide, more than 1,500 people have been arrested in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on charges stemming from the Capitol breach, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
But whether the prosecutions will proceed is now an open question following the election of Trump on Tuesday. According to The New York Times, Trump promised on the campaign trail to pardon some of those charged, including leaders of far-right groups like the Proud Boys.
The president-elect has repeatedly attempted to downplay the events at the Capitol as a “love fest” while painting those charged as “political prisoners.”
In addition to his burglary conviction, Kozeluh has a lengthy arrest record on charges ranging from domestic battery and arson to first-degree murder, county records show.
In 2012, he was charged the 2005 killing of a La Grange man who was found dead in a burning car in Marquette Park after a botched robbery. Records show Kozeluh was found not guilty in a bench trial before Judge William Hooks in 2017.
His co-defendant in that case is serving 60 years in prison, records show.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
