Two active-duty Marines, Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen, pleaded guilty to riot-related charges for their involvement in storming the U.S. Capitol. They are scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in September. Both individuals admitted to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, which is a misdemeanor offense. These men are among the few active-duty military members who participated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Micah Coomer, another active-duty Marine, was also charged in connection with Abate and Hellonen. He pleaded guilty to the same misdemeanor charge in May and will be sentenced on August 30. The maximum sentence for all three individuals is six months of imprisonment.
Abate was apprehended at Fort Meade in Maryland, Coomer in Oceanside, California, and Hellonen in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Witnesses who served with Coomer at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia and with Hellonen at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina identified them in videos of the riot. Another witness, also a Marine, recognized Abate from footage captured inside the Capitol.
During a security clearance interview in June 2022, Abate admitted that he and two friends had walked through the Capitol on January 6 and tried to avoid tear gas. He also acknowledged that he decided not to tell anyone about entering the Capitol after hearing negative portrayals of the event.
Coomer posted photos on Instagram after the riot with the caption “Glad to be (a part) of history,” indicating his presence inside the Capitol. The FBI confirmed that the phone number listed for Coomer in his military personnel file matched the Instagram account.
Coomer, Abate, and Hellonen attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before entering the Capitol. Inside, they placed a “Make America Great Again” hat on a statue and took photos of it. They spent approximately an hour inside before leaving.
In a conversation with another Instagram user less than a month after the riot, Coomer expressed his belief that everything in the country is corrupt and mentioned the term “boogaloo” as a reference to a second civil war or societal collapse.
Over 1,000 individuals have been charged with federal crimes for their involvement in the Capitol attack, and approximately 600 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors carrying maximum sentences of six months or one year.
Note: This rewritten content is intended to improve syntax, tone, and SEO while preserving the original information provided.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
