Men from Virginia, Maryland sentenced for Jan. 6 insurrection
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced Friday that two men from the DMV – one from Fairfax County in Virginia and another from Bethesda in Maryland – were sentenced for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election,” the USAO said in both of the press releases about the men’s sentences.
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Virginia
Joseph Brody, 24, of Springfield, Va., will spend a year and a half in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for assaulting a law enforcement officer during the insurrection.
According to court documents, the USAO said Brody attended former President Donald Trump’s rally in D.C. with several friends. After the rally, they made their way to the Capitol building and entered alongside many other rioters just after 2:15 p.m.
Eventually, they continued into a small atrium with a plaque reading “Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi,” entering a conference room within the Speaker’s office suite.
Brody eventually broke off from the group and entered the Senate Chamber. While there, he appeared to photograph or record what was inside, including documents and other information on top of and inside several senators’ desks.
He and the group left the Capitol at about 2:50 p.m.
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Then, the group moved to the north side of the building, where officers were trying to keep rioters from breaching the North Door. That’s when an officer tried to use a fire extinguisher to keep the rioters at bay.
Brody grabbed a metal barricade, lifted it up and shoved it over a concrete station and into the officer, wrote the USAO.
The force of the barricade knocked the officer backward, according to documents.
The group then began destroying and looting media equipment set up outside of the Capitol building.
He was eventually arrested by the FBI on Sept. 14, 2022, in Springfield. He pleaded guilty to a felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers on Feb. 21, 2024.
Maryland
Steven Patrick Cook, 25, of Bethesda, Md., will spend 28 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the insurrection.
Moments after rioters broke the police line on the West Plaza, the USAO said Cook pushed and hit multiple police officers.
Just before 2:30 p.m., he pushed a Metropolitan Police Department officer as they were trying to reestablish the police line. He then grabbed the officer’s police baton and punched another officer.
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According to the USAO and his guilty plea, Cook spent over an hour assaulting officers in the Lowe West Tunnel, “the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement.”
While in the Tunnel, Cook helped other rioters attack police and, at one point, grabbed a gas mask from a nearby rioter, put it on his face and bull-rushed officers.
He also grabbed an officer’s baton and pushed himself continuously into officers in order to break the line.
The FBI arrested Cook on Sept. 16, 2023, in Maryland. He pleaded guilty to his charges earlier this year.
Joseph Brody and Steven Patrick Cook are two of over 1,470 people who have been charged with crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 530 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the USAO.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-225-5324 or visit tips.fbi.gov.
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