Capitol Police Officer Gets 2 Years of Probation for Trying to Help Jan. 6 Rioter Evade Charges
Michael Riley was found guilty of one count of obstruction in October and sentenced to 120 days of home incarceration on Thursday
A former Capitol Police officer has been sentenced to two years of probation after he was found guilty of sending a Facebook message to a Jan. 6 Capitol rioter, instructing him to edit his posts about storming the building.
Michael Riley was found guilty of one count of obstruction in October and sentenced to 120 days of home incarceration on Thursday.
Riley, 51, has more than 25 years of law enforcement experience and resigned following his arrest, per CNBC.
Related:Capitol Police Officer Testifies About the 'Carnage' of Jan. 6: 'I Was Slipping in People's Blood'
According to the Department of Justice, he was at work on Jan. 6, 2021, but was not on duty inside the Capitol Building itself during the attack.
The following day, however, he saw a Facebook friend post about being inside the building during the attack. "Rather than forward the information to the Capitol Police or FBI, Riley sent the rioter a private Facebook message with advice on how to avoid being caught," the Justice Department said in a release.
In that message, Riley wrote, "im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance. Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to charged. Just looking out!"
After that, the Justice Department said Riley "continued to exchange hundreds of friendly private Facebook messages with the rioter, but when he learned that the rioter had told the FBI about being in touch with a Capitol Police officer, Riley deleted all of those messages from his account."
From the release: "Riley then came up with a cover story and sent a new message to the rioter, pretending that he had only later learned that the rioter had smoked weed inside the Capitol and pretending that he was scolding the rioter for his conduct."
NBC News reports that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told Riley his behavior was "shocking conduct for any member of law enforcement" in handing down his sentence on Thursday.
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The rioting at the Capitol occurred after thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered to hear the then-president give a disgruntled speech outside the White House, amid his baseless claims that election fraud resulted in his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Some members of the group then marched to the Capitol, overtaking (and in some cases beating) police officers and shattering windows and doors in an effort to get inside. The ensuing melee led to a disruption of a joint session of Congress gathered to confirm Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Though the confirmation was paused as lawmakers were forced to evacuate during the deadly scene, Biden was confirmed later that day.
Five people, including U.S. Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, died as a result of the violent clash between pro-Trump rioters and law enforcement.
According to the Justice Department, more than 1,000 people have since been arrested for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
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