WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Tampa Bay man who was part of the insurrection at the Capitol on 1/6/2021, and posed for a photograph while carrying the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will spend 75 days in jail.
Adam Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds and was sentenced by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. Friday. In addition to the jail sentence, Johnson was fined $5,000 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
With time served, Johnson will spend 60 days in jail for his part in the Capitol Insurrection.
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In handing down the sentence, Judge Reggie Walton said the U.S. was headed in a dangerous direction if activities like the insurrection continue.
"That's what we see in countries, like what we're experiencing now in Ukraine," Judge Walton said, according to Politico. "That's where we're headed if we don't do anything to stop it.
According to a sentencing memo from the Justice Department, prosecutors asked that Johnson spend 90 days in jail, be placed on supervised release for one year, complete 60 hours of community service, and pay both a $5,000 fine and $500 in restitution.
The sentencing memo also decried Johnson's "sense of entitlement and privilege." It also specifically references his photo with Pelosi's lectern, saying that it "portrays Johnson as confident, arguably gleeful, while converting government property to his own use during an unlawful siege of the Capitol."
According to Yahoo, prosecutors proved that Johnson used his cell phone to record rioters battling police outside of the Capitol. He breached the building and later tried to open the door to Pelosi's office. At the time, Pelosi's staffers had barricaded themselves across the hall.
That's when he came across Pelosi's lectern and posed for a Getty Images photographer.
He later tried to delete videos and photos from his phone and deleted his entire Facebook account days after the riots. However, he was arrested and released on bond less than a week after the riot.
