A Colorado man pleaded guilty Monday to using a baseball bat and pepper spray on four U.S. Capitol police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that interrupted the certification of the 2020 election.
Robert Gieswein pleaded guilty to two federal charges of assaulting or interfering with a federal officer. Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In exchange for the guilty pleas, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss nine other counts they filed against Gieswein.
Gieswein, then 24, traveled to the Capitol from Woodland Park and carried a bat and dressed himself in pseudo-military garb during the riot, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
He also wore a patch for an alleged paramilitary training program he ran in Colorado. The patch helped federal law enforcement identify him, according to the complaint.
Videos of Gieswein at the Capitol show him spraying a police officer with an unknown substance while the officer was trying to keep the crowd from pushing down barricades, according to the affidavit. He encouraged others in the mob to break a window and then climbed through the window into the Capitol, the affidavit states.
Gieswein appeared to be affiliated with at least one anti-government militia movement, the Three Percenters, according to the arrest warrant. He also claimed to run a local, private paramilitary training group called the Woodland Wild Dogs.
Gieswein is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.
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