WASHINGTON — A Harford County, Maryland, man agreed to plead guilty this week to one misdemeanor count of parading in connection with the Capitol riot.
Robert Reeder, 55, appeared before U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan on Wednesday with his attorney, Robert Bonsib. Reeder was arrested in February and charged with four counts, including violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
According to a statement of facts filed in federal court, Reeder was identified by facial recognition software used by the Office of the State’s Attorney for Harford County. The office then notified the FBI, which said it was able to match photos of him inside the Capitol on January 6 with a picture on his Maryland driver’s license.
During his hearing Wednesday, Reeder’s attorney stressed that his client did not, like others accused in the Capitol riot, commit any violent acts.
“When he entered the Capitol building, he did not push his way in, as the statement of facts says,” Bonsib said. “There were officers standing by and he did not realize he couldn’t enter. He didn’t engage in any kind of resistance.”
An attorney for the Justice Department pushed back on that statement, saying that the teargas being fired at the crowd “was an indication that people were not welcome in that Capitol at that time.”
Reeder also told judge Hogan he has not been able to get steady work since he lost his security clearance as a result of the charges, and so could no longer handle packages in his former job at the Transportation Security Administration.
On Friday, the TSA denied Reeder had ever been employed with the agency, telling WUSA9 there wasn't "anyone by that name in our agency's employment records."
Reeder was one of three Capitol riot defendants to plead guilty on Wednesday. Graydon Young, an Oath Keeper charged in a 16-person indictment, entered a guilty plea and agreed to cooperate with investigators against his co-defendants in the case. Also Wednesday, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, an Indiana resident, pleaded guilty to one count of parading in a Capitol building and became the first person sentenced in the case. She received three years of probation and a $500 fine.
Hogan set a sentencing hearing for Reeder on August 18 at 2 p.m.
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