Cranberry man pleads guilty to Capitol riot charge
A Cranberry Township man has pleaded guilty to one of four federal charges he faced for entering the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
Jordan Bonenberger, 27, pleaded guilty to a charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, and is scheduled to be sentenced remotely Sept. 5 by Judge John D. Bates in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. He is not being held in custody.
In a plea agreement he accepted April 28, Bonenberger admitted to walking to the Capitol building after attending the rally held to protest the results of the 2020 election.
At about 2:38 p.m., Bonenberger entered the building through the upper west side central doors, walked to the Rotunda and through a corridor on the third floor and then left the building at about 2:57 p.m.
The charge he pleaded guilty to carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison, five years of probation and a $5,000 fine.
His plea agreement includes paying $500 in restitution.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said the riot resulted in $2.7 million in damage to the Capitol, and disrupted a joint session of Congress that was convened to certify the vote of the Electoral College for the 2020 presidential election.
The riot resulted in the assault of more than 80 members of the Capitol Police and nearly 60 members of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department.
A Capitol Police officer shot and killed a female rioter as she tried to enter the House chamber through a broken window. Two people in the crowd on the capital grounds died from natural causes, and another died from an accidental overdose.
One Capitol Police officer died from natural causes the day after the riot, and several other officers died by suicide in the weeks after the riot.
