Colorado Politics

Woodland Park man gets 4 years for role in U.S. Capitol riots

A Woodland Park resident was sentenced to four years in prison Friday for assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.

Robert Gieswein, 26, was sentenced for two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. Once out of prison, Gieswein will undergo three years of supervision and pay a $2,000 restitution to the Architect of the Capitol, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden further ordered.

Dressed in a camouflage paramilitary kit and carrying a baseball bat, Gieswein joined a group of Proud Boys members, who gave him a piece of orange duct tape for his helmet to identify himself as “friendly.”

Together they marched from the Washington Monument to the Capitol. There, he and a large mob entered a restricted area and began pushing against a barricade held by police. A man with a microphone approached Gieswein and asked what the solution to “this right here” was,” to which Gieswein responded, to “execute these fascists.”

He and the mob next pushed its way up the stairs of the Capitol’s west terrace, where he repeatedly sprayed an “aerosol irritant” at police officers attempting to hold off the crowd, according to the release. He was one of the first rioters to enter the building through a Senate wing window and again sprayed aerosol at two officers, injuring at least one.

He and a group of rioters were ultimately stopped by police in the hallway leading to the House speaker’s office and pushed back. He exited the Capitol shortly after.

Federal authorities have said Gieswein appeared to be a follower of the Three Percenters, a domestic militia group that they say is anti-government, and ran a private paramilitary training group called the Woodland Wild Dogs.

His case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Geiswein joins more than 1,000 others who have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol breach that disrupted Congress’ count of the electoral votes and certification of President Joe Biden. The investigation is ongoing.

Robert Gieswein, left, was sentenced to four years in prison on June 23 for assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.
Courtesy of FBI
Robert Gieswein, 24, is accused of taking part in the failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
U.S. arrest affidavit
Robert Gieswein, 24, of Woodland Park, is suspected of assaulting a federal officer, destroying government property as well as aiding and abetting destruction of government property, obstructing official proceedings, entering a restricted building, and disorderly conduct, an arrest affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
Courtesy of arrest affidavit
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