Narayana Rheiner, 42, pleaded guilty in November to participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Screen capture courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice
Aug. 23 (UPI) — A Baltimore man has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for being a member of the mob of pro-Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Narayana Rheiner, 42, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release, as well as ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in November to one count of interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, the Justice Department announced in a statement.
Rheiner was arrested in March 2022 after an unnamed citizen saw him in a YouTube video.
According to prosecutors, at least one Metropolitan Police Department officer working the Capitol during the attack told FBI agents that he remembered Rheiner from that day as “someone who was trying to hurt officers.”
The statement of facts says that shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, Rheiner went to the head of the mob and waved other rioters to “push up” on a line of police protecting the building. Prosecutors in the document state that Rheiner participated in the advance and ripped a riot shield from the hands of an officer, who was flung down several stairs in the process.
At about 2:45 p.m., Rheiner, among a mob of rioters, entered the Capitol through the Upper West Terrance Door and tried to enter locked doors.
As officers deployed chemical irritants to force the mob to disperse, Rheiner responded by yelling, “Why don’t you just go home!”
Shortly before 3 p.m., Rheiner exited the Capitol via a broken window, prosecutors said.
Since the supporters of then-President Trump attempted to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, more than 1,100 people have been arrested over their participation in the mob, including more than 350 who have been charged with assaulting or impeding police.
