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FBI agents scared the owners of a popular inn in Homer, Alaska, on April 28 when they kicked in their door, entered the home with guns drawn, and put the couple in handcuffs.
The feds were looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s missing laptop, which someone swiped from her office on January 6 when rioters surged into the U.S. Capitol as Congress prepared to validate the results of November’s election.
Problem was, Paul and Marilyn Hueper, owners of the Homer Inn & Spa, didn’t enter the Capitol building although they were at the mostly peaceful protest to support President Trump. And, of course, they didn’t have Pelosi’s computer.
The agents refused to show the couple a search warrant for several hours. They also cuffed two friends.
9:00 a.m. Raid
Paul Hueper understands the agents were “doing their job,” he told KSRM’s Bob Bird, but the raid “felt a little over the top.”
A little is right. More than a half-dozen agents broke into the home at 9:00 a.m., awakened the late-sleeping couple, then questioned them for hours without showing a search warrant.
“It was a little alarming when I turned around the corner,” he told Bird. “The first thing they did was start barking out commandments.”
The trouble began for the Huepers when the gumshoes found photos that showed the couple at the rally.
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“They had somehow dug those up out of my Instagram file, which I guess they’ve got the right to, I get that,” he said. They showed me, you know ‘Ok, is this you here?’ I’m like ‘Yes, that’s me.’”
Then the agents asked about Marilyn Hueper, whom he had photographed walking up the Capitol steps, but still “a hundred yards away from the front of the Capitol.”
I took a picture of her going up the steps. Which I had posted, so, ok no big deal. The next picture is shown of the woman inside of the Capitol, and they are like “Ok, is this your wife?” I’m like, “No. She’s got hot sexy leather boots on, I kind of like those. Maybe, I’ll ask her if she can get me a pair.” But, I’m like “No that’s not my wife.” And then they said “Are you sure?” I’m like “Yeah, we didn’t even go inside the building.” We were at most within a hundred yards of the front of the building. I mean we were in a sea of a million people, so we’re far enough back. Then, I started to kind of understand what the process of what they were looking for, you know, again, the case of mistaken identity.
Marilyn Hueper and the woman inside the Capitol did indeed resemble each other slightly, and wore what appeared to be identical coats.
But that’s as far was putative match went.
Obstructing Justice
Marilyn Hueper elaborated on the raid:
Our bedroom is blacked out because that’s the way we sleep in Alaska. They woke us up, we’re late risers, they actually told us that they came by at 7 and knocked, but no one responded. So they went to breakfast and then came back. And nobody knocked, so they broke the door open and then drew guns and came in and as Paul said, you know, called us out of our rooms and handcuffed us.
The agents separated the two, and told Marilyn Hueper why they were there: for Pelosi’s laptop.
“Oh, so it was stolen and it’s at large, good to know,” she told the agents. “I thought maybe it was just conspiracy theory, so thanks for the intel.”
But then the agents threatened her, she said.
“We know you were in the Capitol,” they said. “We have footage of you in the capitol, we have footage of you inside of Nancy Pelosi’s office when the laptop was being removed.”
The agents claimed they had positive identification. “We know you were a part of this,” they said.
Of course, the couple wasn’t a part of it, and Marilyn Hueper said she laughed and explained that she wouldn’t be caught dead in the sweater the woman wore.
But the frightened Trump supporter then showed that federal gumshoes hadn’t done their homework. “This chick looks like she has detached earlobes, which makes me jealous,” she told them. “I’ve always wanted detached earlobes.”
When she insisted on seeing search warrant, the agents threatened her:
What we’re hearing is that you don’t want to cooperate, that you want us to report back that you are lying to federal agents, and that you are obstructing justice.
The FBI won’t discuss the damaging raid, the Associated Press reported.
“While individuals are free to speak about their interactions with the FBI, we do not, as a matter of practice, discuss or describe any contact we have or allegedly have with individuals,” a spokeswoman said. “At this time, and until it reaches the public realm, we can’t discuss the details.”
The case has reached the “public realm,” but that aside, at least agents offered to pay to repair the door. They did not apologize.
H/T: Alaska Watchman
