A Florida man has been sentenced to prison after being convicted for his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, an event that disturbed the congressional session intended to tally the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election. Gabriel Augustin Garcia, a 43-year-old from Miami, was handed a 12-month prison term, 24 months of supervised release, and a restitution payment of $2,000, as confirmed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia.
As the leader of the Vice City Chapter of the Proud Boys, Garcia was chosen by the national chairman of the group, Enrique Tarrio, to join a special unit known as the "Ministry of Self Defense" or MOSD, according to the evidence presented in court, all of which Garcia accepted. In anticipation of the Capitol event, Garcia vividly shared messages suggesting violence, like when he posted, "1776 flag flying over the White House last night" and later added, "time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill," as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia.
On the day of the riot, Garcia merged with the rioters at the Capitol after coordinating with another MOSD member to locate the clash's epicenter. His entry into the Senate Wing Door was mere minutes after the initial breach. Inside, he faced law enforcement officers and was recorded shouting, “You ain’t stopping a million. You ain’t gonna hold a million back today” and berating them as "traitor to the country," as documented in the live-streamed videos he shared on his Facebook page, per U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia.
The investigation is reported to be ongoing, teeming with efforts from the FBI’s Washington Field Office in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies. The sentencing marks another chapter in the story of Jan. 6, drawing a line of accountability through the judiciary's decisions. The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section, with helpful support from agencies including the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department, stresses the repercussions of the Capitol breach will continue to be serious, as noted in the official announcement of Garcia's conviction.
