(ConservativeSense.com) – Another participant in the Washington, D.C., riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, has been sentenced to time in prison.
On Tuesday, Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors sentenced Narayana Rheiner from Baltimore, Maryland, to 15 months behind bars. According to the federal prosecutors, Rheiner made his way through the throng of rioters in D.C. and toward the front of the mob at the Capitol Building, encouraging them to push back against police lines. Rheiner is also accused of grabbing a riot shield from a Capitol Police officer, resulting in the officer falling down the stairs. He later made his way inside the building.
Prosecutors allege Rheiner was told to turn around by an officer, to which he replied he was going “the right way” because the crowd needed “to send a message.”
Rheiner was most likely referring to the purpose of the “Stop the Steal March,” which was to raise grievances with the federal government about the 2020 election. The protesters who descended upon D.C. that day, most of whom did not become rioters by participating in the Capitol storming, legitimately believed the election was stolen from Trump and came to make their voices heard by their representatives.
But Rheiner did resist law enforcement and enter the building. He was arrested in March 2022 after someone recognized him in a YouTube video of the events, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which was submitted as evidence in the case. He pleaded guilty and was also sentenced to 3 years of probation on top of the 15 years in prison and issued a fine of $2,000.
So far, in connection with the Jan. 6 D.C. riots, over 1,100 people have been arrested, 350 of whom were charged with assaulting law enforcement, according to the DOJ. There will most likely be more prosecutions down the line.
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