Press Release
☷Court Sentences Two Oath Keepers Leaders on Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U S Capitol Breach
Federal Bureau of Investigation ( By Press Release office)
May 26,2023
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Two leaders of the Oath Keepers , Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and Kelly Meggs , were sentenced for their involvement in the breach of the U . S . Capitol on Jan . 6 , 2021 . Rhodes , from Granbury , Texas , received the longest sentence to date of 18 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release , while Meggs , from Dunnellon , Florida , received 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release . Attorney General Merrick B . Garland emphasized the severity of their actions , which disrupted a joint session of the U . S . Congress during the presidential election . The FBI director , Christopher Wray , and U . S . Attorney Matthew M . Graves for the District of Columbia , also expressed the importance of holding those responsible accountable . Rhodes and Meggs were found guilty on Nov . 29 , 2022 , following an eight - week trial and three days of deliberations , on charges including seditious conspiracy , obstruction of an official proceeding , and tampering with documents and proceedings . So , there ' s this group called the Oath Keepers and they ' re kinda big , but not super organized . Some of them are into militias . After the election in November 2020 , some of the leaders like Rhodes and Meggs started planning to take over the government by force . They talked about it in secret chats and stuff . They even trained in combat tactics and brought weapons and gear to the Capitol on Jan . 6 , 2021 . They tried to stop Congress from certifying the election results and ended up breaking into the Capitol building . Rhodes stayed outside and told his followers what to do . Meggs and some other Oath Keepers actually went inside and wore their Oath Keepers gear . Some other members stayed outside as backup . It was pretty crazy . So basically , the government thinks that these QRF teams were ready to bring a bunch of weapons into D . C . to stop the transfer of power . Rhodes got caught in Texas on Jan . 13 , 2022 , and Meggs was caught in Florida on Feb . 17 , 2021 . The U . S . Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security and Criminal Divisions are dealing with the case , and they ' ve gotten help from lots of different U . S . Attorneys’ Offices and FBI offices around the country . Since Jan . 6 , 2021 , over 1 , 000 people have been arrested in almost all 50 states for stuff related to the Capitol breach , and more than 320 of them got charged for messing with law enforcement . The FBI ' s still looking into things , so if you ' ve got any tips , call 1 - 800 - CALL - FBI ( 800 - 225 - 5324 ) or go to tips . fbi . gov .
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