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Cranberry Township man sentenced to probation in Capitol riot charge

A Cranberry Township man was sentenced to serve 18 months probation after pleading guilty to entering the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.

Jordan Bonenberger, 27, pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, and was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 5, in U.S. District in Washington D.C.

His sentence includes paying $500 in restitution and a $200 fine. Three other charges filed against him were dismissed in accordance with a plea agreement reached in April.

In the agreement, Bonenberger admitted to walking to the Capitol building after attending the rally held to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election.

At about 2:38 p.m., he 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.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, 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 election.

Around 2 p.m. that day, people in the crowd that had gathered outside the Capitol building forced their way inside by breaking windows and by assaulting members of the U.S. Capitol Police.

Members of the House and States Senate and Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the Senate, were evacuated from their chambers. The joint session resumed shortly after 8 p.m.

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 Capitol grounds died from natural causes and one 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.

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