Days after former President Donald J. Trump pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he stoked the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol building, investigators are still pursuing thousands who wreaked havoc and violence at the nation’s Capitol.
The U.S. Department of Justice keeps a database of defendants, their charges, summaries of criminal allegations and dispositions of their cases related to the riot. According to that database, the number of Massachusetts defendants stands at 10 — ranging from those who participated in the violence of that day to those who merely showed up to protest and meandered through the building.
This state’s Jan. 6 defendants represent 1% of the 1,000 men and women who have been charged with roles in the breach of the Capitol over claims that President Joe Biden’s win was fraudulent and Trump should remain in office. A newly released indictment alleges Trump prodded elected officials, lawyers and aides to perpetuate the “Stop the Steal” movement and gin up the general public to resist Biden’s presidency.
Trump appeared in a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., Thursday to plead not guilty to three criminal charges related to the Capitol breach. Prosecutors allege Trump stirred voters up with a plea to come to D.C. to protest what he and certain of his allies deemed “a stolen election.”
The latest criminal indictment was Trump’s third in a year but perhaps the most significant given its historic implications. The Jan. 6 riot claimed the lives of five; nearly 140 police were injured; and four officers involved in the fracas died by suicide in the months following the clash, according to court records and published reports.
The price tag on the vandalism to the Capitol building and grounds is estimated at nearly $1.5 million. Most convicted defendants have been saddled with small restitution orders to chip away at that figure, court records show. The undisputed ringleaders of the insurrection — Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — have been convicted of sedition, with Stewart Rhodes of the Proud Boys sentenced in May to 18 years behind bars.
Massachusetts’s defendants have been subjected to far less. Here is a summary of state defendants ensnared in the ongoing prosecution.
Chase K. Allen, Seekonk
Arrested and charged June 21, 2021
Charges: Destruction or injury to buildings or property in special maritime and territorial jurisdiction; act of physical violence on grounds.
Pleaded guilty on Nov. 22, 2022.
Outcome: Sentencing held on April 20. Defendant sentenced to three years of probation, $500 restitution and $10 special assessment.
Summary: “On January 6, in the afternoon, Allen went to the Capitol Grounds. At about 5:00 p.m., Allen approached a media staging area that was set up outside the northeast corner of the U.S. Capitol, on U.S. Capitol Grounds. Metal barricades had been set up around the area, but individuals had moved past those, forcing media members to flee before recovering all their cameras and associated equipment. Members of the crowd had begun destroying the media equipment, including tripods, lights, shades, and remote broadcasting equipment that belonged to various media outlets. While there, Allen participated in the assault on the media staging area by kicking and/or stomping on equipment that belonged to media outlets, destroying a ‘pelican case.’”
Noah S. Bacon, Somerville
Arrested: June 30, 2021
Charges: Knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; enter or remain in the gallery of either House of Congress; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; obstruction of justice/Congress.
Outcome: Sentenced to one year in federal prison. Additional sentences were concurrent.
Summary: Self-admitted Proud Boy who sent message of Instagram telling followers he was in D.C. and “something beautiful” was going to happen. He was spotted in Senate chambers and elsewhere in the Capitol wearing an “I Love Trump” T-shirt, but was not caught on video committing acts of violence.
Stefanie Chiguer, Dracut
Arrested: January 2022 along with her former girlfriend, whose charges were dismissed in this case, according to court records
Charges: 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; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Outcome: Chiguer signed a plea agreement in April 2022.
Summary: Chiguer was captured on video charging through the Capitol building with an American flag but is not accused of violence. Her former girlfriend who accompanied her and allegedly smashed a window in the building sent a social media just prior to Jan. 6 that said “grab your popcorn …” according to court records. They also disclosed associations with the Proud Boys, court documents said.
Kim Marie Connolly, Boston
Arrested: Jan. 20, 2023
Charges: Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disrnptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Outcome: Scheduled to plead guilty on Sept. 12.
Summary: Connolly admitted she breached the Capitol, mingled with rioters, took a few photos and left when Capital police told her to leave.
Vincent Gillepsie, Athol
Arrested: Feb. 18, 2022
Charges: Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; engaging in an act of physical violence in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and committing an act of violence in a Capitol building or grounds.
Outcome: Sentenced in April to 68 months in prison after a trial earlier this year.
Summary: Gillepsie was among those who muscled through the perimeter that law enforcement made to stop the swell of protesters and was captured on surveillance video shoving his way through the swell and stealing a police riot shield.
“Between approximately 4:11 p.m. and 4:13 p.m. Gillepsie is seen and heard on the body worn camera of a Metropolitan Police Department officer pushing his way through the crowd towards the law enforcement officers; using a police shield to ram the law enforcement officers; and screaming ‘traitor’ more than once and ‘treason,’ as he points to a law enforcement officer,” court records say.
Sue Ianni, Boston
Arrested: Jan. 19, 2021
Charges: Disruptive behavior at the Capitol.
Outcome: Pleaded guilty in September 2022 and sentenced in December to 15 days of incarceration, 30 months of probation, 60 hours of community service and $500 restitution.
Summary: Ianni was a regional leader in “Super Happy Fun America,” an organization that purports to be an advocate for the “straight community,” bearing the motto, “It’s Great to be Straight.” She organized nearly a dozen buses to travel to D.C. for the insurrection. She walked into the Capitol during the riot but is not accused of violence or vandalism.
Brian McCreary, Springfield
Arrested: Feb. 4, 2021
Charge: Obstruction of an official proceeding; 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; parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Outcome: Guilty plea on Oct. 14,2021, and sentenced to 36 months of probation, including 42 days of intermittent incarceration and two months of home detention, $2,500 fine, $500 restitution.
Summary: McCreary traveled to Washington, D.C., as part of the “Stop the Steal” movement among Trump supporters and admitted he flitted in and out of the Capitol and into the Senate building among throngs of other rioters because he was frustrated an audit of the election results had not been conducted. He was not charged with crimes related to violence or destruction and entered doors to the building that had already been kicked in, according to court records.
Mark Sahady, Boston
Arrested: Jan. 19, 2021
Charges: Entering or remaining in restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
Outcome: Case remains pending.
Summary: Also a “Super Happy Fun America” member, Sahady allegedly posted on social media, specifically about January 6, 2021, stating that ‘it is important that millions of Americans show up in DC on January 6 to support the legitimate President, Donald Trump, and show Democrats what they will be facing if they continue to try and steal the Presidency’. When someone tweets at him asking about transportation, SAHADY responds on December 31, 2020, that ‘we have 7 buses coming.’ And that there is more space. As January 6, 2021 approaches, SAHADY posts again on January 4, 2021, simply “January 6 – Washington, DC – It begins.’”
Sahdady allegedly breached the Capitol, but is not accused of violence or vandalism.
Troy Sargent, Pittsfield
Arrested: March 9, 2021
Charges: Forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding federal officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in restricted building or grounds; knowingly engaging in physical violence in restricted building or grounds; willfully and knowingly engaging in physical violence in Capitol grounds or buildings.
Outcome: Pleaded guilty on June 27, 2022, and was sentenced to 14 months incarceration, 24 months supervised release and $500 restitution.
Summary: Sargent punched a police officer at the Capitol during the riot and later boasted about it on social media, according to court records.
Dr. Jacquelyn Starer, Ashland
Arrest: Dec. 20, 2022
Charges: Forcibly assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding federal officers; civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct, and knowingly engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, engaging in physical violence in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
Outcome: No plea or sentencing scheduled, according to the court docket.
Summary: Starer breached the Capitol and punched an officer in the face during the riot, according to court records and surveillance footage.
