Two men, Richard Markey from Connecticut and Michael Tyler Roberts from Tennessee, have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. This event interrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Richard Markey, 38, of Wolcott, Connecticut, received a sentence of 30 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. Markey pleaded guilty to a felony charge involving assaulting officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
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Michael Tyler Roberts, 34, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, with 36 months of supervised release, and was likewise ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. He also pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting law enforcement officers.
Court documents reveal that Markey traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021, and joined thousands of rioters at the Capitol the following day. He was involved in violent confrontations with police at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. Markey used a baton and his fists to assault officers and attempted to seize police shields and other equipment.
Similarly, Roberts was present near the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, where he engaged in physical assaults against police officers. He forcibly made contact with officers, grappling with them for approximately three minutes.
The FBI arrested Markey on July 17, 2023, and Roberts on November 1, 2023. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, along with the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, prosecuted the case with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Connecticut and Eastern Tennessee.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington, New Haven, and Knoxville Field Offices, with assistance from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department. Since January 6, 2021, over 1,572 individuals have been charged across nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the Capitol breach, with more than 590 facing charges for assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
The investigation into the Capitol breach is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or by visiting tips.fbi.gov.
Source: Read Original Release