A Victorville man seen storming the Capitol building along with thousands of other supporters of former president Donald Trump was sentenced to two years of probation and community service last week.
Jacob Lewis, 38, who owned a fitness facility in Victorville that resisted statewide orders to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, agreed to plead guilty in January to one misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol.
Prosecutors dropped several other charges, including violent entry into the Capitol and disorderly conduct in a restricted building, as a result of the deal.
Lewis could have been sentenced to up to six months in prison and five years of probation for the one picketing charge. According to court documents, a judge sentenced him to just 24 months of probation, 60 hours of community service, a $3,000 fine, and $500 restitution.
Lewis owned The Gym in Victorville. In May 2020, he said on his Instagram account that he was refusing to shut down, in defiance of Governor Gavin Newsom’s orders for non-essential businesses to close amid a wave of coronavirus infections.
By Jan. 6, 2021, Lewis was posting footage on Instagram from inside the Capitol building. Security camera footage showed Lewis jammed with hundreds of others as they stormed through it.
The FBI contacted him a few days later, after a friend of Lewis sent them a tip about his involvement in the attack on the Capitol, including information indicating he knew what might happen on Jan. 6.
According to court documents, the friend told the FBI that during a conversation in December 2020, Lewis said to them, “watch what happens to the Capitol on the 6th.”
Lewis agreed to an interview with the FBI on Jan. 15. He told agents he did not participate in any violence, claiming that “Antifa members” were the ones agitating among the crowd to attack police.
Claims that anti-fascist groups were in the crowd made up overwhelmingly of Trump supporters has repeatedly been proven false. Federal investigators have said that many in the crowd were either directly connected to far-right extremist groups or were encouraged to commit violence by them.
Source: Orange County Register
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