by Joseph Weber
An Arizona man who was believed to an FBI plant in the Jan 6. Capitol riot, was sentenced Tuesday to one-year probation for his participation in the incident.
The rioter, 62-year-old Ray Epps, was sentenced to probation in deal with federal prosecutors, after pleading guilty in September to a single charge of engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, according to The Hill newspaper.
Epps has repeatedly denied he was a government informant or that he encouraged people to breach the Capitol to get them in trouble. He was also ordered to pay $500 in restitution and serve 100 hours of community service.
Prosecutors had requested six months in prison for Epps, who joined in a group effort on Jan. 6, 2021, to shove past police officers, as Congress attempted to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win, the Hill also reports.
“Even if Epps did not physically touch law enforcement officers or go inside of the building, he undoubtedly engaged in collective aggressive conduct,” the government said in a sentencing memo.
However, he also turned himself in two days after the riot and tried to deescalate the confrontations between law enforcement and rioters, actions that give rise to the notion he was government plant.
Epps sued Fox News this past summer for allegedly spreading “destructive conspiracy theories” about him and his actions on Jan. 6.
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Joseph Weber comes to JusttheNews after covering national politics for Fox News since 2011.
Photo “January 6 Protesters” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.
