William Dunfee, a 59-year-old pastor from Frazeysburg, Ohio, faced justice for his role in the January 6 Capitol breach, as he was sentenced to 30 months in prison yesterday. Based on court documents, Dunfee's conviction followed a bench trial for offenses, including one felony charge of civil disorder and a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Disrupting the joint session of the U.S. Congress, Dunfee was among more than 1,504 individuals charged since the event, according to a report from the Department of Justice.
Assigned to the case, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton also ordered Dunfee to 36 months of supervised release, a $10,000 fine, and $2,000 in restitution. Expressing deep convictions on social media before the incident, Dunfee rallied his followers with a call to protest what he deemed an illegitimate election. Leading up to the riot, Dunfee declared via a Facebook video: "The Government, the tyrants, the socialists, the Marxists, the progressives, the RINOs, they fear you. And they should. Our problem is we haven’t given them reason to fear us," as reported by the Department of Justice.
Dunfee was found by authorities to have stirred the crowd using a bullhorn on the day of the Capitol breach, caught on video telling the mob, "Rise up. Rise up. Today is the day in which it is that these elected officials realize that we are no longer playing games," as per the Department of Justice report. After breaching Capitol security, videos showed Dunfee pushing against U.S. Capitol Police with a metal barricade and later congratulating those exiting the building with a "Mission accomplished."
The prosecution relied heavily on evidence from surveillance footage and social media that revealed Dunfee's active participation in the breach and resistance against law enforcement. Investigation of the case was carried out by the FBI's Cincinnati Field Office, with the assistance provided by the Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department. As stated by the Department of Justice, more than 560 individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, in the ongoing investigation since the riot.
