A QAnon believer who was one of the first people to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Douglas Jensen, 43, was the 10th person to breach the building, according to the Justice Department.
Jensen was at the front of a pack of rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up multiple staircases after breaking into the Capitol. Video from the scene captured Jensen leading the group into the building and menacing Goodman.
Jensen carried a three-inch knife in his pocket, but was never seen on video brandishing it.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/ZOJ7NQUFJOPU6O4UEY2ETIGRAI.jpg)
“Doug Jensen wanted to be the poster boy of the insurrection,” prosecutor Emily Allen said.
Goodman was hailed as a hero for leading Jensen and his followers away from the Senate floor, likely preventing bloodshed.
Breaking News
As it happens
Get updates on the coronavirus pandemic and other news as it happens with our free breaking news email alerts.
Jensen told investigators that he was proud to be among the first people inside the Capitol and that he wore the QAnon shirt because he wanted “Q” to “get the credit” for the riot, the feds said in charging documents.
Goodman’s tactical retreat led to a room with more Capitol police officers, and they were able to stop Jensen and others from advancing further into the building. Jensen eventually left the Capitol grounds but returned through a different entrance as the unrest continued.
A Des Moines, Iowa, native, Jensen turned himself in to local police on Jan. 8, 2021. During an interview, Jensen admitted that he was the man in the viral video with the giant “Q” shirt.
Jensen was convicted in Washington, D.C. Federal Court on Sept. 23 of five felonies: assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer; obstruction of an official proceeding; interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon.
He was also convicted of two misdemeanors and fined $2,000.
The riot “snapped our previously unbroken tradition of peaceful transfer of power. We can’t get that back,” Judge Timothy Kelly told Jensen on Friday. “I wish I could say I had evidence you understood this cannot be repeated.”
With News Wire Services
