Two brothers from Lake Forest were sentenced to probation and home detention for participating in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.
Mark Kulas, Jr., 27, of Lake Forest, was charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor.
Kulas was charged by criminal information on November 19.
Prosecutors allege Kulas willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated and picketed in the U.S. Capitol Building, according to court documents.
Mark Kulas’s brother, Christian Kulas, 24, of Kenilworth, was charged last June for also participating in the riot.
Prosecutors charged Christian Kulas with two counts of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building and one count of temporary residence of the president.
Several people sent tips to the FBI days after the January 6 riot about a video Christian Kulas had posted on Instagram that appeared to show himself participating.
A man, who multiple people identified as Christian Kulas, was seen in the video wearing a Burberry jacket along with a baseball cap that said “Keep America Great” on the front of it, according to an affidavit from the FBI.
He could be heard in the video laughing and saying “storming the Capitol,” the affidavit said.
Kulas’ mother confirmed in a direct message on social media that her son Christian was the one in the video, the affidavit said.
The Kulas brothers are graduates of Lake Forest High School and are the sons of the owners of Kulas Maids, which is a Northbrook-based company.
The Kulas brothers both appeared in court in December in front of U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan and entered into plea agreements.
Both of them pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, a misdemeanor.
The Kulas brothers agreed in their plea deal to cooperate with law enforcement agents by letting them examine social media accounts on their electronic devices.
Prosecutors said in court documents that the two brothers flew from Illinois to Washington, D.C. on January 5 and walked with the crowd into the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6.
“Mark Kulas, Jr. and Christian Kulas walked around the interior of the U.S. Capitol Building, including through areas known as the Capitol Rotunda and Statuary Hall. Christian Kulas shouted and cheered in support of the rioters, including a group of rioters using force in an effort to breach a police line and to open a doorway,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors added that there is no evidence the two assisted the rioters using force against the police line in an effort to open the doorway.
The offense that the Kulas brothers pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
On Tuesday, Hogan sentenced the two to 60 days of home detention and six months of probation. They will also have to pay restitution of $500 each.
In the 15 months since Jan. 6, nearly 800 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 250 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, prosecutors said.