WASHINGTON — A former New Jersey National Guard police sergeant who went on the run in November, after the FBI showed up to arrest him in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting officers.
Gregory Yetman pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with physical contact and the intent to commit another felony at a hearing before Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg. The parties agreed that Yetman's sentencing guidelines were between 37 and 46 months in federal prison.
Yetman, a heavy equipment operator who at the time was an enlisted military police officer, admitted that he attended President Donald Trump's speech on Jan. 6, 2021, and understood that Trump said they were going to the Capitol.
"Yetman then walked to the west side of U.S. Capitol building, where he heard people chanting, 'Stop the Steal.' While there, he heard 'flash bangs' and observed tear gas being deployed by U.S. Capitol police officers who were defending the Capitol," according to the agreed-upon statement of offense. "He observed rioters who had been exposed to gas and oleoresin capsicum ('OC') spray and watched as other rioters attempted to break windows. He also saw a police officer get pulled into the crowd but did not attempt to help the officer."
Yetman then saw officers who were surrounded by other members of the mob, picked up a canister of OC spray and "intentionally assaulted the same group of besieged police officers by spraying them."
Yetman also admitted that he fled when the FBI showed up to arrest him, dropping a knife and a cellular telephone. He admitted that law enforcement officers found "multiple firearms and significant quantities of ammunition at his residence, a loaded firearm in his vehicle, and additional firearms and weapons in a storage unit."
Until now, Yetman was one of about 15 Jan. 6 defendants who had been held in pretrial custody without having been convicted of a crime.
In the more than three years since Jan. 6, prosecutors have charged over 1,387 Capitol attack defendants and secured more than 984 convictions and more than 520 sentences of incarceration, from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.
