Following an FBI visit to a Homer couple on Wednesday, April 28, the U.S. District Attorney for Alaska last Friday filed for and got approval to unseal an FBI affidavit supporting a search warrant for the home and property of the couple, Marilyn and Paul Hueper.

That affidavit alleges that Marilyn Hueper is a woman who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and stole a laptop computer from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. The Huepers claim the case is one of mistaken identity and that Marilyn Hueper is not the woman seen in surveillance images. They admit to being at protests in support of former President Donald Trump, and that they were near the Capitol building, but that they did not enter the building.

The affidavit was unsealed last Friday, April 30, in the U.S. District Court, Alaska, and provides more information on how and why the Huepers came to the attention of federal authorities. The documents also include the search warrant for the Ocean Drive Loop home and items there. The affidavit by a FBI special agent claims Marilyn Hueper is the subject in persons-of-interest photographs #225 A and B captured by numerous security cameras throughout the Capitol.

The affidavit states the Huepers were originally reported through the FBI tip line on Feb. 24 after the couple was identified as non-compliant passengers by an Alaska Airlines flight crew on Feb. 17 for refusing to follow mask regulations and were banned from flying with the airline. According to the affidavit, the witness who reported the Huepers also provided the FBI with an Instagram photo from Paul Hueper’s account showing Marilyn Hueper approaching the Capitol in clothing matching the description of the subject in photographs #225 A and B, including a black, puffy down coat and a large black bag.

The caption on Paul Hueper’s Jan. 10 post read, “Marilyn approaching the Capital. As Patriots, there is a righteous revolution to take back our country. Keep praying … we are only getting stronger, and will not quit till until our country is restored. To be there was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To be surrounded by a million Patriots who loved this country is something I will never forget. STOP THE STEAL!”

According to the affidavit, the woman in the photographs identified as no. 225 was captured on security footage between 2:39 – 2:46 p.m. in the rotunda interior door, the hallway leading to Pelosi’s office, the east corridor hallway and the main balcony area before entering the Speaker’s office. The search request provides photographic evidence of no. 255 disconnecting an HP ProBook 640 i5 laptop from attached cables and grabbing the computer. While the photos provided by the FBI in the affidavit only show the arm of the person who stole the laptop, the FBI alleged features on the image match those of no. 225, such as the black jacket, a metallic ring on her right hand thumb and the metallic ring on her right hand ring finger later shown on security footage from an elevator.

After the photos of rioters were uploaded to the FBI’s U.S. Capitol Violence Most Wanted website in search of identification, a second witness claimed the subject in photograph #225 was Marilyn Hueper. That witness told the FBI she knows Marilyn Hueper.

After sufficient evidence was presented in the affidavit, the search warrant was granted to search the Hueper’s residence for electronic devices, such as computers, cell phones, internet-access capable devices or hard drives located on the premises, including containers located on the premises capable of holding any electronics. The search warrant also allowed the FBI to photograph and copy storage media in search of evidence of the Huepers’ involvement at the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.

The FBI got driver’s license photos of Marilyn Hueper and compared them with the no. 225 images. “The FBI confirmed the woman in photographs 225 A and B was Marilyn Hueper,” according to the affidavit. The affidavit claims a third person identified Marilyn Hueper as the woman in photographs 225 A and B.

According to a Facebook post by Marilyn Hueper on her husband Paul’s Facebook page, FBI agents searched their Ocean Drive Loop home, which is also the location of Homer Inn & Spa. Marilyn Hueper shared on Facebook that they were startled when a dozen armed agents entered their home, quickly handcuffed them and their house guests, and began searching their home and interrogating them in regard to their activities Jan. 6 at the Capitol.

FBI Public Affairs Officer Chloe Martin last Thursday confirmed that “the FBI was conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity at the location.” Martin said she could not comment further and that she could neither confirm nor deny that there is an investigation.

According to the Facebook post, Marilyn Hueper wrote that she was misidentified through photo recognition as a rioter who stormed the Capitol building. In an interview with “On Top of the World” talk show radio host Chris Story last Thursday, the couple said they did attend a protest on Jan. 6 in support of former President Donald Trump’s claim that the election was fraudulent. They said they got near the Capitol about 90 minutes after protesters first approached the Capitol and some entered the building. Marilyn Hueper told Story that agents showed her a photo of a woman with similar features to her who was inside the Capitol. She said the agents claimed the photo was of her. However, Marilyn Hueper said the woman in the photograph had different facial features, such as arched eyebrows and attached earlobes.

Marilyn Hueper said she later looked up the photo and that it is photograph #225a on the FBI’s U.S. Capitol Violence Most Wanted website.

According to the interview with the Huepers on Story’s show, they said the FBI had a court-ordered search warrant for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s laptop and any other related items stolen from the Capitol during the riots, but did not present the warrant until hours after the search began. FBI agents confiscated their personal laptops and cell phones in search of evidence.

“This simply feels like a violation of those of us that were there that had every right, as President Trump said, to protest peacefully, so that’s what we did,” Paul Hueper said during the interview. “We were not inside the Capitol building. We didn’t condone any of the violence that took place there whatsoever.”

The Huepers responded to emails, phone messages or texts by the Homer News seeking comment, but at press time were not available for an interview.

Reach Sarah Knapp at sarah.knapp@homernews.com.

A screenshot from Paul Hueper’s original Facebook post about the FBI search at their residence on April 28, 2021, of Marilyn and the woman in photograph #225a-b on the FBI’s Most Wanted for Capitol Violence list.

Marilyn Hueper approaching the Capitol during the Stop the Steal protest in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Photo taken from Paul Hueper’s Instagram account.