WASHINGTON — A colonial-clad Capitol rioter — dubbed "Conan O'Riot" because of his resemblance to former late night talk show host Conan O'Brien — pleaded guilty to a Jan. 6 charge Tuesday.
Derek Nelson, 30, a former Marine, was arrested in Illinois in October, more than two years after he was identified by online "sedition hunters" who have aided the FBI in cases against hundreds of defendants.
Nelson pleaded guilty to a count of entering and remaining in a restricted building, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols accepted Nelson's guilty plea and set his sentencing hearing for June 13.
As part of his plea agreement, Nelson said that he "wore a colonial blue peacoat with gold buttons, a tricorn hat, a red shirt, a white neckscarf, black-and-red gloves, and khaki pants" on Jan. 6 and "had also brought with him a pink respirator and goggles, which he later donned." Nelson also admitted that he "came to D.C. prepared for the possibility of violence."
He added that before he stormed the Capitol he told someone he was there to "start a revolution."
Nelson further admitted in his plea that he "attempted to body-check" an officer's shield as the officer was retreating from the rioters as they made their way toward the building. "The officer dropped the shield, which Nelson assisted another rioter in picking up; the other rioter charged ahead now holding the shield," he admitted in a statement of offense.
The case against Nelson's co-defendant, Derek Dodder, is pending. As part of his plea agreement, Nelson said that while they were inside the Capitol, Dodder patted him on the shoulder "in a congratulatory fashion" and recorded officers below.
"Hurt ’em. We hurt ’em, boys," Nelson said, in a moment that a documentary videographer captured on video.
Nelson eventually made it close to the main entrance to the House chamber, where rioters had smashed a window. As officers inside the chamber drew their weapons, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, told fellow Trump supporters through the broken window that they should be "ashamed" and that he'd "been in law enforcement in Texas for 30 years" but "never had people act this way."
More than 1,300 defendants have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol, and prosecutors have secured more than 900 convictions and sentences, from short periods of probation up to 22 years in federal prison. New arrests continue to roll in, and cases continue to make their way through the court system.
On Friday, a jury convicted Michael Sparks, a Trump supporter whipped up on the former president's 2020 election lies, who became the very first rioter to breach the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
