A Telluride man has been sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge for participating in the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Avery MacCracken, 70, pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder last year after he and others disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to count the votes from the 2020 presidential election, according to a news release.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sentenced MacCraken to a year and one day in prison and 36 months of supervised release, and ordered MacCraken to pay $2,000 in restitution, according to the news release.
MacCracken traveled to Washington, D.C., to protest the certification of the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, according to court documents. Around 2 p.m., MacCracken was part of a large group of people who were in the restricted area on the West Plaza of the Capitol.
Just minutes later, he had pushed to the front of the mob and, “with two hands balled into fists, he advanced toward a police officer and raised one fist as if to strike,” the news release stated.
MacCracken grabbed another officer’s arm and uniform, tussling briefly with the second officer before moving past, the news release said.
The man eventually climbed to the top of the Inauguration bleachers, where he joined other rioters who were resisting police efforts to remove them from the area, officials said. MacCracken faced the police and refused to leave until he was physically pushed off a platform by officers.
FBI agents arrested MacCracken on Dec. 11, 2021,c in Colorado after Coloradans saw his image online and reported him as one of the Capitol insurrectionists, the news release stated.
In the 40 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,424 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol, including more than 500 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony.
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