“He went down there because he’s bored and has nothing else to do,” Elderly man “believed that he was authorized to enter the Capitol because he pays his taxes,” sentenced
Hundreds of people have been charged so far for the Capitol events last January and the list is expected to grow in the upcoming months as the investigation about the deadly events is still ongoing. As multiple sources reported, a man from Florida who pleaded guilty for his involvement in the Capitol riot was recently sentenced to 63 months in prison and that is the longest sentence so far.
According to Insider, 727 people have been charged in the Capitol insurrection and only 151 federally charged rioters have entered guilty pleas as of December 14. The investigation is ongoing and the FBI is seeking the public’s help to identify people who took part in one of the most documented crimes in US history.
Among those who entered guilty pleas and are already sentenced is the 81-year-old G. Wickersham who appears to be the oldest known Jan. 6 defendant. According to the prosecutors, Wickersham was among the first people to reach the Capitol after a police line was breached. He entered the Senate Wing moments behind notorious “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley, and at one point is seen on surveillance video in a crowded hallway outside the office of Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer (D).
According to the court documents, Wickersham was charged with one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He had also been charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct. He pleaded guilty in October.
Wickersham defense attorney had asked for a sentence of probation only while the prosecutors had requested four months of home detention plus probation. Earlier this week, Wickersham was sentenced to 90 days of home detention and three years of probation, plus a $2,000 fine. Since Wickersham is by far the oldest known Jan. 6 defendant and much older compared to the average age of Jan. 6 defendants which is 39, both the judge and the prosecutor called this case “very difficult case.”
Wickersham was initially arrested in January, shortly after the Capitol incident. When questioned by the investigators about what had happened that day and why he entered the Capitol, Wickersham told them that he “believed that he was authorized to enter the Capitol because he pays his taxes.”
In the initial stages of the investigation, Wickersham seemed tough in regards to the case, but he has softened since his initial interview in January, when he “expressed very little remorse” for his actions. The suspect in the case also told investigators that most of the people in front of the Capitol during the events were “members of Antifa.”
In addition, he told investigators that he was thinking that the entire event was ‘staged’. Wickersham expressed his beliefs that authorities on purpose were left with no enough resources at the time so the protestors could easily enter the building and overrun the Capitol.
The judge in the case, who is a Ronald Regan appointee, is only three years younger than Wickersham. This case was also complicated for him because of Wickersham’s age, the fact that Wickersham only had a traffic ticket in his life and because he allegedly went to the protest because he was bored.
“I think frankly he went down there because he’s bored and has nothing else to do,” Wickersham defense attorney said. “He’s living alone within a two-hour distance of Washington DC.”
“I got off the bus [in Washington] and as I was walking by the Capitol, that was the last place in the world where I thought I’d be traipsing for 22 mins inside,” Wickersham, who spoke on his behalf, said. “For my whole 81 years[,] that 22 minutes I spent in there, that was a dark blot on my life and I regret doing it.”