Hours after being sworn in, President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise to pardon defendants charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Trump pardoned about 1,500 people Monday, fulfilling a campaign pledge critics said would “endorse attacks on democracy.”
That figure would represent almost all of the nearly 1,600 people who were charged in the riot by the fourth anniversary of Jan. 6, according to the Justice Department. About 1,270 had been convicted and 1,100 had been sentenced by that point, the department said.
“These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon. Full pardon,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “This is a big one. We hope they come out tonight.”
Jan. 6 Capitol Riots when a crowd stormed and broke into the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, including immediately after the riots.
Many in the crowd believed the election had been stolen and that Donald Trump had won re-election and Joe Biden had lost the election. Up until Trump’s pardons the cases of New England residents who accused with participating and charged with related crimes were still moving through federal court. Some have already been sentenced to jail time, and new arrests were still being made.
Here’s where cases involving Connecticut residents stood before Trump issued pardons on Jan. 20.
Victoria Bergeson
Victoria Bergeson of Groton was charged by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department with unlawful entry and curfew violation while at the 100 Block of First Street, near the Peace Monument off Constitution Avenue, according to an arrest document.
She plead guilty to both charges on June 9, 2023, and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service.
Baouch of New London was arrested on Nov. 10, 2022, about a week after the complaint was filed in court.
Baouch was charged with four counts including:
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and
- Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
He plead guilty to one – parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building – while the others were dropped as party of the deal. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 12 months of probation and $500 restitution.
Benjamin Cohen
Benjamin Cohen of Westport pleaded guilty on July 8, 2024, to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. He has not been sentenced yet.
Cohen was arrested on Aug. 9, 2023. “Cohen was identified by law enforcement authorities among the crowd of rioters gathered along a police line on the West Plaza of the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. At approximately 2:28 p.m., numerous members of the mob pushed through barriers and attacked members of the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department, lawfully engaged in the performance of their official duties. At about this time, Cohen was present near the front of the mob of rioters up against the West Plaza police line,” according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
He was initially charged with:
- Civil Disorder (2 counts)
- Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers
- Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds
- Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds
- Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds
- Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
- Act of Physical Violence in a Capitol Grounds or Buildings
James Roe Cleary
James Roe Cleary was arrested and charged on Oct. 3, 2024, and plead not guilty on Jan. 14 to six charges.
“Court documents say that at about 4:27 p.m., a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer was pushed to the ground, and rioters attempted to pull the officer’s body out of the Tunnel and into the mob. Cleary was filmed on body-worn camera allegedly clambering across the bodies of a fallen rioter and the downed officer and grabbing a baton on the ground. Cleary then quickly handed the baton off to another rioter in the mob and then returned to the front of the Tunnel,” reads the press release from the Department of Justice.
Cleary was charged with six counts including:
- Civil Disorder
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
- Engaging in Physical Violence in Restricted Building or Grounds;
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and
- Acts of Physical Violence in Capitol Grounds or Buildings
Richard T. Crosby Jr., of Harwinton, was awaiting sentencing which was scheduled for Feb. 6, 2025, after pleading guilty to four of his indictment.
Crosby is pleading guilty to:
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds (two counts);
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and
- Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Prosecutors had also charged him with:
- Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting;
- Entering and Remaining on the Floor of Congress;
The FBI had photos in which they identified Crosby on the Senate dais “shortly after the evacuation of Vice President Pence and Senators from the Chamber, with Jacob A. Chansley, a/k/a ‘Jacob Angeli,’ a/k/a ‘The QAnon Shaman’,” according to court documents.
he pleaded not guilty to all counts. He changed his plea at the end of October.
Gino DiGiovanni Jr.
Gino DiGiovanni Jr. of Derby, who as an alderman for the town at the time, was arrested and charged in August 2023.
According to FBI report included in court documents, “At the conclusion of a public meeting, the reporter (from NBC Connecticut) confronted DiGiovanni on camera with photographs of DiGiovanni inside of the US. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. In response, DIGIOVANNI responded in part by saying: ‘I was there, I went inside there, and, you know, I didn’t damage or break anything. Obviously you got the pictures to prove it.’”
DiGiovanni was charged with four counts including:
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and
- Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
DiGiovanni plead guilty to Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building and was sentenced to 10 days in jail, followed by 12 months of supervised release, a $25 special assessment, and $500 restitution.
Thomas Kenny and Michael Kenny
Thomas and Michael Kenny, both of Greenwich, have plead guilty to two counts, each, of Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds. They plead guilty on Aug. 14, 2024. The sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 28.
The pair were arrested on Dec. 21, 2023, four days after the FBI filed the complaint with the court.
Jean Lavin and Carla Krzywicki
The mother and daughter, Jean Lavin and Carla Krzywicki, of Canterbury were charged four counts each. According to court records, FBI agents had a recording of the women climbing a bicycle rack to scale part of a Capitol wall, and then they entered the building through a damaged door, according to court documents.
entenced April 22, 2022, to 36 months of probation, including 90 days of home detention, $500 restitution.
Krzywicki was sentenced on April 22, 2022, to 36 months of probation, including 10 days of intermittent incarceration, 60 days of home detention, $2,500 fine, $500 restitution.
Richard Markey
Richard Markey of Wolcott was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution on Dec. 6, 2024. He plead guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Markey made his way to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, where he climbed on top of other rioters to the police line defending and assaulted police with a baton and later his fists. In one instance, Markey forcibly struck and pulled on a police shield held by two officers, according to court documents.
Through the fight with police Markey yelled, “Oathbreaker! Oathbreaker! You’re not doing your f— job. Listen! I fought for this f— country,” according to court documents.
Markey was originally also charged with:
- Obstruction of Law Enforcement During Civil Disorder
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds;
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds;
- Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Ground
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building;
- Obstruction or Impeding Passage Within or Through a Capitol Building; and
- Violent Conduct in a Capitol Building
Mauricio Mendez
Mauricio Mendez of Groton was charged by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department with unlawful entry and curfew violation, according to an arrest document.
on Sept. 13, 2022, of nine offenses, including seven felony charges. He was sentenced in April 2023 to 90 months (nearly 13 years) in prison for his actions at the Capitol.
He was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.
“Even after days of seeing so many shocking and horrific scenes from the siege on the U.S. Capitol, the savage beating of D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Hodges stands out for the perpetrator’s blatant disregard for human life,” said Steven M. D’Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, at the time of his arrest. “Patrick McCaughey’s actions were violent, barbaric, and completely out of control. The FBI will relentlessly pursue individuals who took part in this activity and we will continue our unwavering commitment to ensure all those responsible for assaults on law enforcement officers are brought to justice.”
He was found guilty on the following charges:
- Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, and aiding and abetting;
- Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon;
- Obstruction of an official proceeding, and aiding and abetting;
- Civil disorder;
- Disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon;
- Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon;
- Disorderly conduct in the Capitol building; and
- Act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building.
McCaughey was arrested on Jan. 19, 2021, in South Salem, New York.
USA Today contributed to this report.
