Syracuse, NY — Utica resident William “Billy” Leary said he decided on a whim to drive to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to support President Trump’s protest against the national election.

Leary, 54, who runs a manufactured home business in Utica, started out so late, he said, that he missed Trump’s incendiary speech Wednesday that fueled a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Leary, like many Trump supporters, claims the election was stolen through widespread voter fraud in numerous states, though such allegations have been discredited as baseless by court challenges and recounts. He told the Associated Press he distrusts mainstream media and relies on sources like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars.

“I wanted to go down for support, for election fraud,” Leary told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard today. “I didn’t go down there to rumble.”

By the time he reached the D.C. area, around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, radio announcers were already talking about protesters breaching the Capitol defenses, Leary said. He kept going, anyway.

“I’m going to keep myself away from that,” Leary said he told himself.

But within hours, Leary became one of 71 people arrested on local District of Columbia charges, accused of violating curfew and unlawfully entering public property, a misdemeanor. A dozen or so others so far are facing more serious federal charges stemming from the storming of the Capitol.

Leary faces several months in jail if convicted of unlawful entry, though it’s unlikely he’d spend any more time in jail for a misdemeanor. Leary spent the better part of a day in custody.

His cell phone was confiscated as evidence. He says he never got to make a phone call in custody or heard his Miranda rights.

“They treated us like animals,” he told the AP. “They took all our phones. I didn’t get to make a phone call to tell anybody where I was.”

In the end, Leary maintained to Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard that he wasn’t part of the problem during the Capitol riots.

“It’s crazy, I didn’t enter anywhere,” Leary insisted.

But he was arrested, anyway, because he was out after a 6 p.m. emergency curfew and because, authorities say, he refused to leave government property, the Capitol grounds, despite public announcements ordering people to leave.

Leary says he remained in the crowd outside the Capitol Wednesday evening and never saw any more violence than a shoving match or two.

“Where I was it was peaceful,” he said. “It was patriots there, speaking their voice.”

But word came back that a woman had been shot. That’s about the time, Leary said, that he decided to leave.

There is no allegation that Leary entered the Capitol building or participated in any violence, according to court documents.

Instead, he was arrested at 7:15 p.m. — after the insurrection had ended — by authorities looking to enforce strict rules to avoid further pandemonium, according to court records. He was near the Peace Monument, which borders the Capitol grounds, police said.

Leary says he came back to the Capitol area briefly to say goodbye to people he’d met. That’s when he was arrested.

An officer wrote in court papers that the group was ordered to go inside three times over the course of several minutes.

Leary admits that he violated curfew, believing that he might be detained for a few hours and get fined.

But his trouble got worse when he discovered that he was also charged with unlawfully entering public grounds, a misdemeanor. Law enforcement at the scene told him that orders to leave had been made to the public over a bullhorn; Leary maintains he didn’t hear the orders or they didn’t happen.

Leary was restrained with zip ties and loaded on a bus to an inmate processing center. There, authorities took his cell phone (for evidence) and his shoelaces (to keep him from doing harm) among other personal items, before driving them off to a D.C. jail.

On Thursday, Leary appeared virtually before a judge for arraignment. Like in many criminal arraignments, he had no chance to talk to a lawyer beforehand. One spoke on his behalf, entering a not-guilty plea and setting the stage for legal arguments down the road.

The judge made it clear, Leary said: he was to be out of the District of Columbia by 7:30 p.m. Thursday. He didn’t quite make it: he still needed to take a subway and a bus to get his confiscated belongings from a police precinct.

He made it back to his truck after 8 p.m. Thursday. On the drive back, he dropped off a fellow protester he’d met in New York City.

He’s due back to a D.C. court in June. Leary is still upset that he never got to make a jailhouse phone call and never got his cell phone back.

Leary said the fallout from what protesters did is still sinking in. But, he said, whoever stormed the Capitol should probably face consequences.

“This had gone too far,” he said. “This was supposed to be a rally.”