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Jacob Travis Clark inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Court documents)
A Colorado man, who prosecutors said wanted to be a part of history and carried a 2×4 wooden plank during the Jan. 6 attack, was sentenced to nearly three years.
Jacob Travis Clark, 34, was sentenced to 33 months in prison and 12 months of supervised release, officials said in a news release.
Clark was found guilty of a slew of charges, including — obstruction of an official proceeding, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, prosecutors said.
Officials said he drove from Colorado to Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, and joined rioters the next day, disrupting a joint session of the U.S. Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
“It’s a trump thing I’m here for the riots when they say he isn’t the winner lol,” he texted his father, prosecutors said.
“We are gonna storm the capital [sic],” he texted friends while there.
At 2:14 p.m., Clark was among the first to enter the U.S. Capitol building through the Senate wing doors. Inside, Clark went to the second and third floors, to the Rotunda, and through hallways, prosecutors said.
“Yeah I’m in the capitol (sic) building,” and “we stormed it and busted the door down,” Clark said in texts, officials said.
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He walked through the hallway from the Senate wing door to the crypt holding a 2×4 wooden plank.
“Moments later, a U.S. Capitol Police Officer (USCP) was hit with the wooden 2×4 plank, which forced the officer to retreat into the Crypt in visible pain,” officials said in the news release.
Clark then joined rioters, pointed at police, and threatened them, forcing police to retreat.
At 2:41 p.m., when officers tried to close and lock the Senate Gallery doors, Clark and others confronted the officers.
“Although Clark made no contact with the officers, he was a part of the mob that pushed and hit officers who were forced to retreat before one of the doors could be locked,” officials said.
At one point, when officers said they were just doing their jobs, Clark shouted, “So were the Nazis!” and screamed at officers, “Stand down!” court records said, citing audio and video from police body cameras with a timestamp of 2:50 p.m.
Clark bragged about his illicit activities, saying in texts, “I helped break down the door,” “I was the first one in the chamber,” and “We took the whole thing. They had to evacuate.”
His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
