In the days before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Texas real estate agent Jason Lee Hyland texted a small group chat titled “Patriot flight.”
“Thanks for joining me to DC to stand up for America. This will be historic – no matter the outcome,” he allegedly wrote. “We will leave from us trinity hanger at Denton Airport tomorrow.”
Four others joined him on Jan. 5 on the small private jet bound for Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C. The group included real-estate broker and life coach Jenna Ryan, and real-estate agent Katherine “Katie” Schwab. They posted smiling selfies on board the aircraft and reportedly sang along to music.
But, by the next day, Ryan, Schwab, and Hyland had stormed the Capitol as part of an insurrectionist mob, prosecutors allege.
Two weeks after arresting and charging Ryan, Hyland and Schwab were charged Thursday with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, and disorderly conduct for participating in the Jan. 6 siege.
The pair are seen in photos and videos taken by Ryan, who called the riots “one [of] the best days of my life.” Hyland, a 37-year-old Frisco real estate agent, and Schwab, a 32-year-old who sells properties in Colleyville, were arrested this week and released.
According to newly unsealed court documents, Ryan diligently documented the group’s participation in the mob—starting from their private flight coordinated by Hyland. Hyland told investigators he was responsible for the flight logistics from Texas to D.C. but insisted he didn’t know anyone onboard prior to the trip.
Prosecutors, however, found that he was Facebook friends with Ryan and Schwab and had invited them to join him. Ryan and Schwab then invited the two other unnamed individuals.
Schwab also admitted to authorities she traveled to D.C. with four other “patriots.” She said she put a call out “looking for other patriots to join her” and Hyland arranged the flight.
She said she knew Hyland but insisted she only knew Ryan “through social media.”
On the morning of the siege, Hyland said the group headed to a “packed” event near the Washington Monument and the White House before walking toward the Capitol. “When they got to the Capitol, there was one food truck and no stage, so Hyland, Ryan, Schwab” and another individual “went back to the hotel,” Hyland told authorities, according to the complaint.
When they got back to the hotel, they saw on the news that the Capitol had been breached and “they wanted to see what was going on,” Schwab told authorities.
The group ended up near the U.S. Supreme Court where Schwab said she noticed some “bad apples” in the large crowd. The complaint says the group then walked up the steps of the Capitol and went inside.
“Hyland described the walk up the steps of the Capitol building as a ‘funnel,’” the complaint states. “There were two Capitol Police Officers holding the doors open at the top of the stairs. Hyland asked if he could go inside, and one of the police officers said, ‘everyone else is.’”
Hyland claimed he only stayed inside for a “very short time” and quickly left after he “heard a loud bang, similar to a flashbang.”
Schwab told authorities she “was pushed by the crowds” into the building’s lobby area and claimed that, because of her “small stature,” she started to get crushed and asked a Capitol Police officer for help. The officer helped her to the exit.
In a since-deleted video, Ryan filmed herself going into the Capitol through the Rotunda. She walked past broken windows, up some stairs, and said, “We are going to fucking go in here. Life or death, it doesn’t matter. Here we go.”
Then, she turned to the camera and added, “Y’all know who to hire for your realtor. Jenna Ryan for your realtor.”
By the time Ryan made it to the door of a building “clearly desecrated, with broken glass windows shattered, and security alarms sounding,” she yelled “U-S-A! U-S-A!” and “Here we are, in the name of Jesus!,” the complaint says.
She also took a photo of herself in front of a broken window with the caption, “Window at The capital [sic]. And if the news doesn’t stop lying about us we’re going to come after their studios next…”
Schwab told authorities she was aware that Ryan posted from inside the Capitol and described some of her new friend’s post as “very bad.” She said some of the videos Ryan posted made the whole group “look bad.”
But prosecutors said that, hours after the breach, a Facebook friend told Schwab it looked like she got on the Capitol steps, to which Schwab replied “we raised hell.”
When the friend asked her if she got pictures inside, Schwab answered: “No because they closed the door behind us and had their guns drawn at a few…interesting though, the national guard was in there and didn’t move an inch. They sat back. They didn’t fight against us at all…because there was no need to. After the girl was shot and killed that’s when we raised hell.”
The day after the riots, Schwab’s brokerage, Century 21 Mike Bowman Inc., announced on Facebook that she was no longer associated with the firm. “Such conduct does not comport with the policies or values of our company,” the company said.
