Former Williamson County deputy found guilty of five felonies for role in Capitol riot
Ronald Colton McAbee, a former Williamson County deputy, was convicted Wednesday of five felonies for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Video footage previously reported on by The Tennessean showed McAbee, donning both a Three Percenters patch and a patch identifying him as a sheriff's deputy, punch and drag police officers into a mob of people in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol building.
A federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found McAbee, 29, of Unionville, guilty of all charges. The charges are for assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; and three charges related to being in a restricted building with a deadly weapon: one for entering the building, one for participating in disorderly and disruptive conduct, and one for engaging in violence.
McAbee pleaded guilty to two other charges on Sept. 25: a separate felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer, and a misdemeanor charge for an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.
U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras will sentence McAbee next leap day, Feb. 29, 2024.
According to The Tennessean's previous reporting, McAbee was employed by the Williamson County Sheriff's Office at the time of the attack but was on leave due to an injury from a car crash.
He resigned from his position in March 2021, before he was charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol.
McAbee was arrested on Aug. 17, 2021.
Before McAbee worked for the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, he worked for the Knox County Sheriff's Office and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, where he was disciplined for taunting inmates with pepper spray and lying to them about their release date, The Tennessean reported.
Prosecutors say just before 4:30 p.m. on the day of the riot, McAbee pulled a downed police officer into a crowd inside the Capitol. When another officer tried to assist the downed officer, McAbee "swung his arms and hands towards the officer’s head and torso," making contact while he was wearing gloves with reinforced knuckles.
McAbee then returned his attention to the downed officer and lifted him up by the torso and shoulders, causing the two to slide down a flight of stairs with McAbee falling on top of the officer. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and were among another crowd, McAbee laid on top of the officer while other rioters assailed him for more than 20 seconds.
The officer was taken to a hospital and treated for a concussion, head laceration, elbow injury, and cuts and bruising.
From fines to jail time: Tennesseans sentenced in two years since Jan. 6 insurrection
McAbee is the latest of several Tennesseans who have been charged, convicted and sentenced for their roles in the Capitol breach. Most recently, Eric Munchel, infamously known as "zip-tie guy," was sentenced to nearly five years in prison, among the longest sentences handed down related to the attack.
Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jan. 6 riot: Former Williamson County deputy convicted of 5 felonies
