WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts man who bragged he “duffed” police officers on Jan. 6 was sentenced Monday to more than a year in prison for his role in the riot.
Troy Sargent, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in June to six criminal counts, including felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting police. In a statement of offense he signed in June, Sargent admitted to repeatedly attempting to strike an officer – at least once successfully – and bragging about it afterward.
“After I seen them [the police] throwing them flash grenades into the crowd I had to get off the ladder and go get me some,” Sargent wrote in a post-riot message. “I got two hits in on the same rookie cop and then he maced me.”
Sargent wrote that he knew the officer he attacked couldn’t see him because of the chemical spray on his visor and that he used that opportunity to jump out from behind another rioter and punch the officers “as hard as I could [right] in his [visor].”
“I duffed a cop in the face,” Sargent wrote in another message.
Federal prosecutors argued Sargent should serve 27 months in prison – in the middle of the 24-to-30 months they estimated his guideline range at. Sargent’s attorney, federal public defender Joshua Hanye, estimated Sargent’s guideline range at 8-to-14 months and asked U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan to grant a downward variance to six months.
Sargent had been on pretrial release following his arrest and was initially allowed to remain under those conditions following his guilty plea. In October, however, Hogan ordered Sargent into custody after finding he’d violated his release conditions by repeatedly testing positive for “illicit substances.”
On Monday, Sargent was transported to D.C. to appear before Hogan for sentencing. The judge ordered him to serve 14 months behind bars, with credit for time served, to be followed by 24 months of supervised release. Sargent was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $285 and $500 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol.
More than 900 people have now been criminally charged in connection with the Capitol riot, including nearly 300 defendants accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding police. Of those charged, nearly 50 defendants have pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding police on Jan. 6.
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