From fines to jail time: Tennesseans sentenced since Jan. 6 insurrection
Two years after the world watched the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the cases of those accused of illegal activity that day continue to wind through the federal courts.
Among the most high-profile defendants was a man wearing a tactical vest with a Tennessee-shaped patch, photographed carrying zip-tie restraints as he climbed over chairs in the Senate gallery. He quickly earned the nickname "zip-tie guy" on social media as people worked to identify him and provide tips to the FBI.
He was eventually identified as then-30-year-old Eric Munchel, and on Sept. 8, 2023, he received one of the longest sentences for the riot — 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.
More than two dozen others with Tennessee ties were also charged — including two who were served further charges in December 2022.
Punishments in the form of fines, jail time, and probation have been doled out to other Tennesseans.
In alphabetical order, here are where the cases of more than two dozen defendants with Tennessee connections stand:
Matthew Baggott
Matthew Baggott, then 27, of Woodbury, was arrested on May 30, 2021, in Murfreesboro. He pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building on April 5 at a hearing by video conference before U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta in the District of Columbia. The other charges against him were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
He was sentenced on Aug. 5, 2022, to three months of incarceration, one year of supervised release, 60 hours of community service, and $500 restitution.
Travis Bartow
Travis Bartow was arrested on Oct. 28, 2022, in Nashville. He faces charges related to entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct within. Bartow pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was charged alongside his sister, Katelyn Bartow, who was arrested in New York and faces similar charges. She has also pleaded not guilty.
Matthew Bledsoe
Matthew Bledsoe, then 36, of Memphis, was found guilty of felony obstruction of an official proceeding and four misdemeanor offenses: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
He was sentenced on Oct. 21, 2022 to four years in prison and three years of supervised release, as well as a $2,000 fine and $2,000 restitution.
Nicholas Brockhoff
Nicholas James Brockhoff, then 20, of Covington, Kentucky, was arrested in Tennessee on May 27, 2021, after he was accused of an assault on officers. Charging documents state he sprayed officers attempting to control the crowd at the lower west terrace with a fire extinguisher.
Brockhoff pleaded guilty on Oct. 27. He was sentenced in May 2023 to three years in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,700 in restitution.
James Brooks
James Wayne Brooks, arrested in Johnson City, was charged with assaulting an officer and using a deadly weapon, as well as trespassing. He was arrested on Jan. 3 and pleaded guilty on Aug. 4.
Brooks was sentenced on Nov. 3, 2022, to 12 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, and $500 restitution.
Francis Connor
Francis Connor, then 23, of New York, was arrested in Old Hickory in August 2021. In one message released by the FBI in charging documents, Connor asked for someone to send a video of him jumping out of a window.
Connor pleaded guilty on April 28, 2022, and was sentenced on Sept. 15, 2022, to 12 months of probation, including three months of home confinement, a $371 fine, $500 restitution, and 60 hours of community service.
Christopher Cunningham
Christopher Michael Cunningham, of Nashville, was arrested on Aug. 21, 2021, on charges related to entering the restricted building and disorderly conduct.
He pleaded guilty to one count in February 2022 and was sentenced on June 27, 2022, to 12 months of probation, including three months of home detention, a $1,113 fine, $500 restitution, and community service.
Lisa Eisenhart
The so-called "zip-tie guy" was identified as Nashville bartender Eric Munchel, then 30, who went to D.C. with his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, 56 at the time, of Woodstock, Georgia.
Eisenhart was released to house arrest in March, after legal wrangling over the jail conditions where she was held in D.C.
Although the pair were originally seen as emblematic of the violent threats made that day, they face mainly trespassing charges, although the list does include the charge of violent entry.
A federal judge found Eisenhart guilty on all 10 counts during a bench trial in April 2023. She was sentenced on Sept. 8, 2023, to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.
Andrew Galloway
Andrew Galloway was arrested in Nashville on Jan. 11, 2022. He faced charges related to entering the restricted buildings. He pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced on Oct. 12, 2022, to 30 days of incarceration.
Jack Griffith
Jack Jesse Griffith, then 26, of Gallatin, also known as Juan Bibiano, was arrested alongside Bledsoe, Blake Reed, and Eric Torrens. All three were spotted inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Griffith was sentenced to 36 months probation and 90 days of home confinement on Oct. 28, 2021. He was also ordered to pay $500 in restitution.
Albuquerque Head
Albuquerque Cosper Head, 43, of Kingsport, was arrested on April 14, 2021, in Johnson City, and charged in connection with two other men among the mob supporting then-President Donald Trump who dragged Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone into a crowd during the attack, shocked him with a stun gun, and stole his badge, radio, and ammunition.
Head faced several charges including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, and use of a deadly or dangerous weapon. He pleaded guilty in May 2022 and was sentenced in October of that year to over seven years in prison, three years of supervised release and restitution to be determined later by the court.
Joshua Hernandez
Joshua Hernandez, 28, was arrested in Memphis in February on several charges, including assault of an officer. He pleaded guilty in November 2022 and was sentenced in February 2023 to two years of prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 of restitution.
Bryan Wayne Ivey
Bryan Wayne Ivey, then 28, was arrested on March 4, 2021, in Cookeville. The Crossville man was caught on camera outside the Capitol as rioters broke windows and inside after the building was breached, charging documents showed.
Ivey pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside Capitol grounds on June 22, 2021. He was sentenced in March 2022 to three years of probation, including 60 days of home detention and $500 restitution.
Edward Kelley
Defendant 33-year-old Edward Kelley was already facing federal charges in D.C. related to an assault of a law enforcement officer on Jan. 6, 2021, when further charges were added in December.
Kelley, of Maryville, and Austin Carter, 26, of Knoxville, have been charged with conspiracy, retaliating against a federal officer, interstate threats, and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. According to court documents, Kelley obtained a list of law enforcement involved in his D.C. criminal investigation and later discussed plans to kill those officials with Carter.
According to court documents unsealed earlier this year, Kelley and two other men fought with a Capitol Police officer in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Kelley is also accused of breaking through a Capitol window with a piece of wood and later kicking open a door to the U.S. Senate, allowing other rioters in. Both cases remain pending.
Ronald Colton McAbee
Ronald Colton McAbee, then 27, of Unionville, is among seven charged in a brutal assault on officers on the Capitol's lower west terrace. A now-former Williamson County Sheriff's deputy, McAbee attended the rally while on temporary disability leave from work.
At the Capitol, footage released in court proceedings shows, he wore a tactical vest emblazoned with the word "sheriff." McAbee is shown on police body-camera footage carrying a baton and swinging at officers while wearing gloves with reinforced metal knuckles, charging documents say. He is also accused of helping to grab and hold down an officer while other rioters kicked and punched him.
McAbee remained in custody since August 2021 and in October 2023 was convicted by a Washington, D.C. jury of five felonies, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
McAbee pleaded guilty in late September 2023 to a separate felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer and a misdemeanor charge for an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds.
McAbee will be sentenced Feb. 29, 2024.
Clifford Meteer
Surveillance footage from inside the Capitol shows Clifford Meteer, 66 at the time, of Knoxville, inside the building for approximately 30 minutes, carrying a homemade sign reading "Stop the Steal" and "Save the Republic."
He pleaded guilty in January 2022 and was sentenced in April of the same year to 60 days in jail, followed by 36 months of probation, including 60 hours of community service and $500 restitution.
Eric Munchel
Once inside the Capitol, Munchel and Eisenhart found zip ties that they carried around, which prosecutors argued they planned to use to restrain members of Congress. An infamous photograph captured Munchel holding the zip ties as he climbed over a railing in the gallery of the Senate chambers.
Munchel, 30 at the time of his arrest on Jan 10, 2021, in Nashville, was released to house arrest. A federal judge found him and his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, guilty on all charges during a bench trial in April 2023.
He was sentenced to 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution on Sept. 8, 2023.
Stewart Parks
Stewart Parks was arrested in Columbia and charged alongside Baggott. The pair were reportedly spotted on security footage taken inside the Capitol.
Parks is also accused of picking up and walking out of the building with a hand-held metal detector wand from a table near an entrance, the complaint states. Parks was a candidate for Tennessee's 5th Congressional District this year. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges; the case remains pending.
Joshua John Portlock
Joshua John Portlock, then 40, of Smyrna, faces charges on allegations he pushed and moved barriers, assaulted officers, and joined a mob yelling "heave-ho" as they pushed into a tunnel on the Capitol's lower west terrace, according to charging documents.
He was arrested on November 3, 2021. The case is ongoing.
Ronnie B. Presley
Ronnie B. Presley, then 42, of Bethpage was arrested in Old Hickory in March 2021.
Presley's charges include obstruction of justice, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, entering and remaining on restricted grounds, violent entry, and disorderly conduct. Photos in court documents appear to show Presley standing at a door, holding onto the top of a riot shield.
He pleaded guilty in July 2022 and was sentenced in November to 12 months of incarceration, 26 months of supervised release and $2,000 restitution.
Blake Reed
Blake A. Reed, then 35, was arrested in Nashville on Jan. 17, 2021, and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building, two disorderly conduct charges and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
After initially pleaded not guilty, he changed his plea to guilty to all five charges in January 2022 and was sentenced to three years of probation, including 42 days of intermittent confinement, 3 months of home detention, as well as a $2,500 fine and $500 restitution in April 2022.
Michael Roche
Michael Lee Roche, then 26, of Murfreesboro, was among those spotted praying inside the Senate chambers, court documents show.
He was charged with seven misdemeanor counts related to entering the Capitol building. Roche was among those spotted with the "Q Anon Shaman," an Arizona man known for a unique style of dressing and strident far-right views.
Roche was sentenced on June 9, 2023, to 1.5 years of incarceration, three years of probation and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Michael Timbrook
Michael Timbrook, then 56, of Cookeville, was spotted by a tipster. He was identified as a man wearing an orange beanie and black leather jacket seen in several photos and videos from inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
When interviewed by the FBI, he told them he was "ready to take the penalty for what he did on Jan. 6." He pleaded guilty in February 2022 and was sentenced in May 2022 to 12 months of probation with 14 days of intermittent incarceration (weekends for seven consecutive weeks) and $500 in restitution.
Eric Torrens
Eric Chase Torrens, Bledsoe, Reed, and Griffith were all spotted together inside the building, investigators said.
Torrens, then 28, of Gallatin, appeared in an Instagram video with Bledsoe and Griffith as they appear to enter the Capitol, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in August to one count. He was sentenced in October 2021 to 36 months probation with 90 days of home confinement and $500 restitution.
Mark Waynick, Jerry McKane Waynick
Mark Waynick, 51, and his son, Jerry McKane Waynick, 19, both of Charlotte, Tennessee, were arrested on charges related to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; civil disorder; and related offenses, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's office.
The pair traveled together from Dickson County to D.C., the government claims in court documents and were involved in both attempting to break a police barricade and the breach of the Capitol itself.
Their cases are pending.
Original reporting by Mariah Timms. Ongoing updates by Evan Mealins.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennesseans sentenced since Jan. 6 insurrection
