Adams sentenced to 14 months in prison for involvement in U.S. Capitol riot

A Springfield man found guilty at a stipulated bench trial in January for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including entering the floor of the Senate chamber, was sentenced to 14 months in prison Friday.

Thomas B. Adams Jr., 41, of the 2800 block of Ridge Avenue appeared Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Federal Judge Amit P. Mehta pronounced the sentence, also sentencing Adams to 36 months supervised releasing and ordering him to pay a $2,000 restitution fine.

Adams was found guilty and convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting entering, both felonies, and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, a misdemeanor, on Jan. 31.

More: 'I wouldn't change anything I did:' Springfield man convicted in breach of U.S. Capitol

He faced a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison on the obstruction charge, plus financial penalties up to $250,000.

The initial complaint on the case showed that on Jan. 6, 2021, Adams passed through a security perimeter on the west side of the Capitol Building where he joined other rioters.

He entered the Capitol Building through the Parliamentarian Door, which is a fire door, telling the FBI in February 2021 he walked over broken glass, and that one of the doors through which he entered had a broken window.

After entering, Adams ignored and walked past a line of U.S. Capitol Police who were attempting to stop the rioters. Once Adams made his way past the officers, he made his way to the Senate chamber and entered through a door on the second floor.

Adams stipulated to walking into the Senate well, where he and multiple other rioters walked among the Senators’ desks. While on the Senate floor, Adams took pictures with his cellphone. Adams was photographed there holding a President Donald Trump flag.

Law enforcement officers escorted Adams out of the Capitol Building via the Senate Carriage Door.

Under a stipulated trial, the two parties come to a stipulation of the facts in the case. The court determines, based up on that stipulation, whether the facts agreed to prove the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. A stipulated trial is not a plea, so Adams has not forfeited his rights to appeal.

Adams was represented by Edward Smock and Diane Shrewsbury, federal public defenders.

In an in-person interview with The State Journal-Register after his arrival back to Springfield on Feb. 1, Adams said the stipulated trial was tantamount to "knowingly and willingly admit[ting] fault for being there. I literally had to plead guilty to the same charge they gave the Proud Boys."

The Proud Boys were steadfast supporters of Trump who marched several times in Washington after the 2020 election. More than 100 members of the far-right group joined the Capitol riot.

Although Adams admitted to being in the Capitol, he contested that he didn't "refuse to leave because no one ever told me specifically to get out...until a group of officers came on the Senate floor and told everybody in there it was time to go."

Adams said he traveled to Washington with Franklin in 2021 because "I was laid off (from work), bored, voted for Trump and (according to) everything I saw, it was supposed to be an Occupy Movement, like Occupy Wall Street.

"We went to (Trump's 'Save America Rally') just to be there, just to have our sheer numbers heard. My purpose and my understanding was to let (the government) know that America doesn't agree with their decision, we don't agree with how the (2020 presidential vote won by President Joe Biden) went. There's a lot of us still to this day who don't believe there was 100% legitimacy with the vote."

Adams also admitted that he went to Capitol Hill after Trump's talk "because that's where everybody else was going. I followed the crowd. When I got there, the perimeter fence was already knocked down. I didn't knock anything down. I didn't damage anything. I climbed up the back stairs just like everybody else and stood up there videotaping. I noticed the door was open and said 'Hey guys, the door is open, the crowd's going in. I think it's time for us to go in.'"

Adams said he had no malicious intent and didn't take any weapons other than pocketknives he carries daily.

Until he returned to Springfield and watched news broadcasts, Adams had "no clue of the level of escalated violence that was going on."

The identities of Adams and Franklin first came to light when they were interviewed by Abigail Higgins of the news site Insider shortly after exiting the Capitol.

The Insider article quoted Adams as saying the event was "a really fun time."

"I think everything was great until it went from peaceful to everyone acting like a bunch of 12-year-olds destroying things," Adams told the publication.

Despite the conviction in the stipulated trial, Adams remained defiant in the aftermath, saying he would go to Washington again.

"I wouldn't change anything I did," Adams insisted. "I didn't do anything. I still to this day, even though I had to admit guilt (in the stipulation), don't feel like I did what the charge is."

Adams' comments led Mehta to draft a "minute order" asking why the court should not vacate his convictions. The judge later confined Adams to his home for 30 days. Adams has been out on his own recognizance.

More: Federal judge confines Springfield man to home for comments made after his Jan. 6 conviction

Adams is the first person from the area to be sentenced for disrupting a joint session of Congress, which convened on Jan. 6, 2021, to count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Roy Nelson Franklin, who traveled to Washington from Springfield with Adams, has a pending case.

Another area man, Shane Jason Woods (Shane Castleman) of Auburn, pleaded guilty in federal court last September to assaulting a law enforcement officer among other charges during the breach. Woods was charged with first-degree murder on Nov. 16 for his part in a fatal wrong-way collision on Interstate 55 near Springfield on Nov. 8. He has not been sentenced in the federal case.

Following Adams' sentencing, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia credited the work done by both the Springfield and Washington Field Offices of the FBI for investigating the case, with assistance being provided by the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C. and U.S. Capitol Police.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also thanked their counterparts in the Central District of Illinois – based out of Springfield – for providing assistance in their prosecution of Adams.

More than 1,000 people from all 50 states have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6. breach.

State Journal-Register reporter Steven Spearie contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield man sentenced to 14 months in prison for role in Jan. 6 riot