A federal judge in the nation’s capital sentenced a Colorado Springs man on Wednesday to seven months in prison after he was found guilty of multiple criminal charges for his role in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Tyler Earl Ethridge, 35, was found guilty on six charges on Sept. 8, 2023, in U.S. District Court in Washington for his role in storming the Capitol and refusing to leave when engaged by law enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Ethridge on a felony offense of civil disorder and misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a capitol and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol. Ethridge was also given 24 months of supervised release following his prison sentence and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

According to evidence presented during the trial, Ethridge traveled from Colorado to Washington and, on Jan. 6, 2021, attended former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall.

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Prosecutors showed during trial that Ethridge entered the Capitol at 2:35 p.m. and went to the Rotunda, where he filmed several videos that he posted on social media, according to court documents.

Minutes after leaving the Rotunda, Ethridge was said to have joined a crowd of rioters in the hallway between the Rotunda and the Senate Chamber. There, Ethridge, alongside the other rioters, resisted police efforts to clear the area by bracing his body and attempting to physically resist the officers’ efforts to move him out of the hallway.

Previous reporting from The Gazette details that Ethridge also removed fencing on the Capitol’s northwest approach and encouraged the crowd to keep fighting after he climbed a median before entering the Capitol. 

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Ethridge remained active on social media following his return back to Colorado. In one post in September 2021, he wrote, “Don’t be afraid of what they sentence you with. I’m not. I’m ready for whatever I’ll be charged with. America is still primed and ready.”

The FBI arrested Ethridge on July 8, 2022, in Colorado.

According to other Gazette reporting, Ethridge was a 2017 graduate of the Practical Government School at Andrew Wommack’s Charis Bible College in Woodland Park.

At the time of the riots, Ethridge was a pastor at Christ-Center Church of Tampa in Dover, Fla. The congregation announced on Jan. 19 that he was no longer with the parish.

In the 44 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,504 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 560 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, according to an FBI press release sent out Wednesday.

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