They were from all walks of life — a storekeeper, Army veterans, a doctor, a town official — but what they had in common was being part of a violent mob that broke into the US Capitol as lawmakers were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some attacked police officers. Some were connected to white nationalist and far-right groups.
Some have since served their time, on probation or in prison. Even after their cases were adjudicated, some continue to call themselves “peaceful protestors,” putting their faith in Donald J. Trump, who said he would issue pardons if he became president again.
On Monday, hours after Trump’s inauguration as the nation’s 47th president, he did.
“These are the hostages,” he said while signing the paperwork in the Oval Office, according to an Associated Press report.
He commuted the sentences of more than a dozen people, and granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
“It’s been a long four years,” Niemela told the Globe in an interview Monday evening, adding that she wasn’t sure yet what her pardon entailed.
“I do believe it should be a pardon of innocence,” Niemela said, “and there should be investigations and compensation for my prison sentence and for defamation of character and slander.”
Those pardoned included Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right anti-government militia the Oath Keepers who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison; Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the neo-fascist militant group The Proud Boys who had been sentenced to 22 years; and others who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution gives broad power to presidents to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.” A pardon typically restores civil rights to a convicted felon such, as the right to vote and to bear arms.
Here are the nearly three dozen New Englanders who could get pardoned for participating in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Massachusetts
- Chase Kevin Allen, formerly of Seekonk, pleaded guilty in 2022 to physical violence on the grounds.
- Noah S. Bacon, of Somerville, was arrested on six charges, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, entering or remaining in the gallery of either house of Congress, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,
- Stefanie Chiguer, of Dracut, pleaded guilty in 2022 to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
- Kim Marie Connolly, of Boston, was sentenced in 2023 to six months probation for violent entry.
- Long Duong and Julie Miller, roommates in Worcester, were both charged with disorderly conduct and entering a restricted area.
- Vincent J. Gillespie, of Athol, was sentenced in April 2023 to 68 months in federal prison for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when he rammed a police shield into officers and pulled another officer into a mob of protesters at the US Capitol.
- Suzanne Ianni, of Boston, a former Natick Town Meeting member, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for entering the US Capitol and was sentenced to 15 days in prison in 2022. She’d gone to the Capitol with the far-right group, Super Happy Fun America.
- Christopher H. Keniley, of Springfield, was charged with entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct. He was sentenced in July to 10 days incarceration.
- Brian McCreary, of Springfield, pleaded guilty to unlawful entry in 2021. He had been charged with two counts of illegal entry and three counts of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He was sentenced in 2022 to 36 months probation.
- Mark Sahady, of Malden, vice president of far-right organization Super Happy Fun America and a US Army veteran, was charged with two misdemeanors for entering the Capitol. He was convicted in a bench trial in August and sentenced in November to five months in federal prison; he is appealing.
- Troy Sargent, of Pittsfield, sentenced in December 2022 to 14 months in prison for felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, and four related misdemeanor offenses. Sargent had swung at a Capitol Police officer and hit someone else in the crowd.
- Michael St. Pierre, of Swansea, wore body armor and carried a bullhorn as he climbed a wall at the Capitol, threw a flagpole that smashed a window, and invited the crowd to break in. He was convicted last year of destruction of government property, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and committing an act of physical violence and was scheduled for sentencing on March 14.
- Dr. Jacquelyn Starer, of Ashland, punched a police officer inside the US Capitol rotunda. She was sentenced last year to nine months in prison on a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges.
New Hampshire
- Cindy Young, of Bristol, went into the US Capitol with the mob, carrying an American flag and a Trump flag. She was convicted on four misdemeanor charges at trial in Washington, D.C., and sentenced to four months in prison, followed by a year of supervised release. She is scheduled to report to prison on Jan. 28.
- Kirstyn Niemela, of Hudson, was charged with four misdemeanors including disorderly conduct in the Capitol building. A witness told FBI agents that Niemela showed a video of herself breaking a window and claimed to be part of the Proud Boys, which Niemela denied. Niemela was sentenced in 2023 to 11 months in prison; she served 8 months.
- Richard Zachary Ackerman, of Salem, was charged with assaulting police during the insurrection and taking a US Capitol Police helmet to keep as a “war trophy,” according to officials. Ackerman pleaded guilty to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor charge for theft of government property, and was sentenced last August to 24 months of supervised release with 10 months of home detention.
- Thomas Gallagher, of Bridgewater, was part of a violent crowd facing off against Capitol Police officers, and was charged with violent entry, disorderly conduct and illegally entering the Capitol building or grounds. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in October 2021 and received 24 months probation.
- Jason Daniel Riddle, of Bedford, went into the Office of the US Senate Parliamentarian, stole a wine bottle and a leather bound book of “Senate Procedure.” He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and was sentenced in 2022 to 90 days in jail.
Rhode Island
- Timothy J. Desjardins, of Providence, allegedly attacked multiple officers with a broken table leg as they tried to stop a mob in the tunnel area of the Lower West Terrace at the US Capitol. Desjardins pleaded not guilty on Jan. 14 to seven charges, including assaulting police officers using a dangerous weapon or inflicting bodily injury. He is currently serving an 18-year sentence in maximum security at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston for a road-rage shooting and a six year sentence, with 10 years probation, for an armed standoff on Federal Hill in 2021.
- Juan Rodriguez, of Central Falls, was found inside a Senate office that had its window smashed from the outside, according to an FBI affidavit. He was escorted out of the Capitol by police, but returned to look for his cellphone that was charging inside the office. He was charged with entering a restricted building, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
- Bernard Joseph Sirr, of North Kingstown, an Army veteran and member of the Proud Boys hate group, shoved police officers during the insurrection. He pleaded guilty to civil disorder and was sentenced to two months in prison in 2023.
- William Cotton, of Hopkinton, pleaded guilty to entering the Senate wing of the Capitol during the riot. He received nine months probation in 2023, after telling the federal judge in a letter that, “I felt sick when I saw the video of me saying something horrible to officers outside the Capitol. ... But it is hard for me to recognize myself doing something like that or understand why I would say that.”
Maine
- Matthew Brackley, of Waldoboro, was sentenced in May 2024 to 15 months in prison on or assaulting police.
- Joshua Colgan, of Wiscasset, was charged with four misdemeanors for breaking into the US Capitol.
- Kyle Fitzsimons, of Lebanon, was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assault on a federal officer, and certain acts during a civil disorder.
- Nicholas Patrick Hendrix, of Portland, pleaded guilty in 2022 to demonstrating in the Capitol and was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
- Todd Tilley, of Portland, was charged with multiple misdemeanors after he broke into the Capitol. He was seen with a crowd chanting: “Stop the Steal!”
Connecticut
- Jeremy Baouche, of New London.
- Richard T. Crosby Jr., of Harwinton
- Michael Kenny, of Greenwich
- Thomas Kenny, of Greenwich
- Carly Krzywicki, of Canterbury
- Jean Lavin, of Canterbury
Vermont:
- Brian Preller, of Hardwick
This article has been updated with additional details about the pardons.
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.