A small town Alaskan couple is concerned about the future of the United States after the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided their home in search of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s stolen laptop, but came up empty in what the couple says is a case of obviously mistaken identity.
On April 28, the FBI raided the home of Paul and Marilyn Huepers in Homer, Alaska, a town with a population of approximately 5,700 people, in search of the device, which was stolen during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and has not been recovered. According to a May 6 NBC report, agents only told Marilyn Heupers “We’re looking for Nancy Pelosi’s laptop” after restraining her with handcuffs.
NBC says the couple “first came to officials’ attention” when “Alaska Airlines in February banned the couple for refusing to wear masks on a flight.”
In the warrant, which was obtained April 22 against the couple, who run an inn and spa in the Homer, the first 15 pages are devoted to narrating the general storyline of the Jan. 6 events in the same hyperbolic way Democrat House Managers conflated the actions of thugs to the actions of former President Donald Trump without evidence during his second impeachment trial.
On Page 16, under the section “Facts Specific to this Application,” the Huepers are mentioned for the first time. However, the opening paragraph has nothing to do with either the riots or Pelosi’s laptop. Instead, it states on February 17 the couple were identified as “non-compliant” passengers because they “refused to follow mask regulations” and “were banned from flying with Alaska Airlines.”
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In the Warrant, the FBI said they were contacted by “Witness 1,” who notified them of the Alaska Airlines ban. The informant provided agents with an Instagram photo of Heupers, which was claimed in the Warrant by the agent responsible, whose name is redacted from the unsealed document, to be “matching the exact description” of the woman wanted for the theft
The FBI’s raid resulted in iPads, cellphones, and a personal laptop being seized by the FBI.
Heupers noted FBI agents also took a personal sized copy of the Declaration of Independence the couple kept.
Confidence in democracy shaken
In a post on Facebook the same day as the raid, Heupers posted a side-by-side photo of her on Jan. 6 against the file photo released by the FBI on the unidentified suspect. Heupers bears a similarity to the woman in that she is wearing a similar black down jacket, has a similar hairstyle, is of a similar age, and is also a white female. However, Heupers is wearing a different sweater, no earrings, no eye shadow, and her hair is parted on a different side.
Paul Heupers told the Epoch Times, “Surely the FBI could see that, unless their investigative work is just that weak that they can’t pick up these small things,” adding that neither of them entered the Capitol and were more than 100 yards away when the riots broke out.
“They had a very similar jacket, but the other woman had this really ugly Christmas sweater on, and Marilyn was just wearing a white, red, and pinstripe blue shirt, mostly white.”
In their coverage, NBC said Marilyn looks “strikingly similar to the thief.”
Marilyn said in reference to the seizure of their copy of the Declaration of Independence that it felt like the FBI was “trying to say something or trying to intimidate.”
Paul Heupers told ET his confidence in America was greatly shaken after the experience, “It’s just really frightening, seeing our government weaponize different facets of these different agencies—the FBI, IRS, CIA, and so forth—against American citizens. This is the stuff of police state legends.”
“This is where the USSR got formed and where Venezuela got formed and Cuba, and on and on down the line…So Americans don’t really realize where this ‘police state tactic’ kind of government is leading us, and I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, if you’re independent, if you’re Libertarian—wake up Americans, your rights are getting taken away and they are slipping away fast.”
“If we don’t take a stand as the people and stop depending on the government…if we as the people don’t wake up and take a stand, and take a loud stand, we’re going to wave goodbye to the lives that we’ve built them to be and the freedoms that we’ve enjoyed,” said Heupers.
The pair also dispute refusing to comply with masking regulations on their Alaskan Airlines flight. Marilyn says she took her mask off to eat and drink, while Paul kept his on the entire time. The airline did not reply to Epoch Times for comment.
