Ray Epps, a former Marine who became the center of a conspiracy theory on Jan. 6, 2021, has been charged with a felony in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot and is expected to plead guilty, according to court papers filed Tuesday.

Epps, who alleged in a lawsuit this year that Fox News Channel made him a scapegoat for the Capitol riot, is charged with disorderly or disruptive conduct on a limited basis, court records show.

Epps’ attorney, Edward J. Ungvarsky, said in an email that the case was filed with the expectation that Epps would plead guilty. The judge scheduled a plea hearing for Wednesday.

Epps, one

–

time supporter of former President Trump, who has said he went to Washington to protest the 2020 election that Trump lost to Joe Biden, was falsely accused by Fox of being a government agent who caused problems that Trump supporters are attributed, his lawsuit alleges .

FBI Director Christopher Wray denied in an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee in July that he had any knowledge that Epps was an undercover government agent.

I want to say this idea that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 1, 2011 happened

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6 was part of an operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ridiculous, Wray told lawmakers.

In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes that aired earlier this year, Epps, of Mesa, Ariz., described being on the run after death threats forced him and his wife to sell their home. living in a recreational vehicle in the Rocky Mountains, according to 60 Minutes.

“I had to do what was necessary to protect my family,” Epps said.

Although Epps’ lawsuit names Fox’s Laura Ingraham and Will Cain, former Fox host Tucker Carlson is named as the leader in promoting the theory. Epps appeared in more than 20 segments of Carlson’s prime-time show, the lawsuit said. Messages seeking comment were sent Tuesday to Fox News and an attorney for Carlson, who was forced out of the network.

Epps’ lawsuit against Fox says the Justice Department told him in May that he will face criminal charges for his actions on Jan. 6 and blames that on Fox and Mr. Carlson’s brutal attacks and resulting political pressure.

The lawsuit includes threatening messages Epps says he received, including one that read: Epps, sleep with one eye open.

During his January 2022 interview with the January 6 House committee, Epps, who worked as a roofer after four years

as with the

infantry in the U.S. Marine Corps, told investigators he never worked for the FBI.

The only time I have been involved in government was when I was a Marine in the United States Marine Corps, Epps said.

Epps what

a

earlier

a

member of the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, who served as leader of a chapter in Arizona before parting ways with the anti-government group a few years before the Jan. 6 attack, he said.

He said the Oath Keepers were too radical for him. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members were convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack.

When asked if he had any insight into why he had not been charged with a crime for his role in the riot, Epps told House investigators that he was trying to stop the violence and keep people from getting into more trouble .

Epps said he received death threats and his grandchildren were arrested at school for what they did

grandpa

did.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the January 6 riot, and authorities continue to

regularly

yielding new cases almost three years later. About 670 suspects have pleaded guilty to charges, and of those, more than 480 have pleaded guilty only to misdemeanors, according to an Associated Press analysis of court records.