DENVER — A man from Peyton was sentenced to prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Thomas Patrick Hamner, 49, was sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison after he was found to have fought over a police barricade and pushed a metal sign into officers' defensive line, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
According to court documents, Hamner entered the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and after seeing rioters break police lines, he hopped over the barricades and started to pull them down. Around 1:15 p.m., he "engaged with a tug-of-war" over a bike rack with a Capitol Police officer and an officer from the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. The bike rack was being used as a barricade.
About 30 minutes later, Hamner joined a mob that was pushing a large metal sign toward a line of law enforcement officers.
According to the court documents, Hamner was wearing a sweater that said “Guns Don’t Kill People, Clintons Do” while he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
About 10 months later, on Nov. 9, 2021, Hamner was arrested in Colorado Springs.
He was indicted on six charges, five of which are felonies. The charges include civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon or inflicting bodily injury.
On May 17, 2022, Hamner pleaded guilty to the felony charge of interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder. He pleaded not guilty to the other charges.
Following his time in prison, he will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also must pay $2,000 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted this case. Multiple other agencies were involved and continue to be involved in the investigation, including the FBI’s Denver Field Office, Colorado Springs Resident Agency, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 870 people have been arrested for crimes related to the riot. More than 265 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-225-5324 or visit tips.fbi.gov.
Hamner is one of several Coloradans charged in connections with the Jan. 6 riot, and several others either traveled there from Colorado or were arrested in Colorado to face charges:
- Jacob Clark of Trinidad was arrested in April 2021 on multiple charges in connection to the Jan. 6 riot. He demanded police officers to stand down during the attack.
- Glen Wes Lee Croy, of Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol in August 2021. He was sentenced in November to 90 days of house arrest along with 14 days in a community correctional facility. He called himself an idiot.
- Tyler Earl Ethridge of Colorado Springs was arrested in July 2022 in Denver and faces six federal charges for his participation in the riot. He is a pastor who graduated from Charis Bible College in Woodland Park.
- Robert Gieswein of Woodland Park was arrested and faced multiple charges in January 2021 in connection to the Jan. 6 riot, including assault on an officer "with a spray canister, temporary barrier, and baseball bat," according to his arrest affidavit. He remains in custody.
- Logan Grover of Erie was charged in April 2021 with disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds, and demonstrating in a capitol building. He pleaded guilty in July 2022. He served in the Army Reserve for nearly 10 years and was deployed to Iraq, according to The Denver Post.
- Thomas Patrick Hamner of Peyton was arrested and charged in November 2021. Videos allegedly showed him fighting with Capitol and Metropolitan Police.
- Lisa Ann Homer of Colorado Springs was arrested in November 2021 in Colorado Springs. She faces charges of illegally entering the capitol, disorderly and disruptive conduct on capitol grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.
- Jennifer Horvath of Colorado Springs was arrested and charged in May 2022 on multiple federal charges. She was located after FBI agents linked her to her boyfriend Glen Wes Lee Croy (listed above), who was also arrested, charged and sentenced for his involvement.
- Klete Keller, an Olympian from Colorado Springs, pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding after storming the U.S. Capitol in September 2021. He faces 21 to 27 months in prison.
- Avery Carter MacCracken of San Miguel County was charged in December 2021 with assaulting officers in the Jan. 6 riot. He was arrested in Norwood on six federal charges. He was captured on videos and in photos fighting with U.S. Capitol Police officers.
- Patrick Montgomery of Douglas County was charged in January 2021 with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. According to an affidavit for his arrest, federal investigators were tipped off by someone who saw Montgomery in photos from inside the Capitol posted to Facebook.
- Daniel Michael Morrissey was charged in federal court in November 2021 for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol. He pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced to 45 days of incarceration and 26 months of probation in mid-August.
- Hunter Palm of Colorado Springs was arrested in May 2021 after he allegedly entered U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6. He was identified to federal investigators by a family member.
- Jeffrey Sabol of Jefferson County is accused of dragging a police officer down steps to be beaten by an American flag outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A federal judge denied him bail in April 2021. After the attack, prosecutors said he tried to fly to Switzerland.
- Timothy Williams of Trinidad was charged in June 2021 with multiple federal crimes. FBI agents found Williams on videos of the rioters inside the Capitol that day.
In addition, Rodney Milstreed of Maryland was arrested in Colorado in May 2022, and Lisa Ann Homer of Arizona was arrested in November 2021 in Colorado Springs.
Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr., who lives in North Carolina, said he traveled from Colorado to Washington with an assault rifle for Jan. 6. He was charged in federal court in January 2021 with threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and was sentenced to 28 months in prison in December 2021.
