Marine reservist gets 2 weeks in jail for role in Capitol riot
Pro-Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo: Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
A Marine reservist from New Jersey who stormed the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot was sentenced Tuesday to 14 days of intermittent incarceration, per the Department of Justice.
Driving the news: Marcos Panayiotou, 30, was also sentenced to 36 months of probation and was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and $500 in restitution.
Details: Panayiotou was arrested last December and pleaded guilty in August to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
- Panayiotou, who wore a hat with the slogan "Make Politicians Afraid Again" during the Capitol breach, apologized to a federal judge and said he’d been swept up in the mob that day and he’d "followed the crowd," per the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- In a letter to U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, Panayiotou wrote, "I know it may sound tired and just trite, but I truly thought I was following the directives of President Trump."
The big picture: Some 900 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Capitol breach and more than 275 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the DOJ.