NC man who threw object ‘like a spear’ at police in Jan. 6 riot sentenced to prison
A 61-year-old North Carolina man will spend nearly five years in prison for throwing a flagpole-type object as if a javelin or spear at U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6 and committing other felonies, U.S. prosecutors said Thursday.
.Rutherford County resident Anthony Mastanduno joined other rioters in breaching the Capitol and disrupting a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Congress convened the session to count electoral votes, certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election over Donald Trump.
Joined front line of rioters, records show
According to court documents, Mastanduno entered the Capitol building minutes after rioters first breached the building that afternoon.
He made it to the front of a line of rioters who “overwhelmed” officers in the Capitol Crypt area, court records show. He left the building and headed to the lower west terrace, where police formed a defensive line at an archway that leads to a Capitol entrance known as “the tunnel.”
Some of the most violent attacks against police occurred at the tunnel, prosecutors said. “Rioters at the Tunnel battled police officers for hours as they attempted to storm the Capitol building,” according to the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office release..
Pushed at police with stolen shield
At 4:30 p.m., Mastanduno joined other rioters in coordinated attacks against police at the tunnel, prosecutors said.
He picked up the blue, flagpole-like object and threw it into the mouth of the tunnel at the police line, according to court documents.
He used a shield stolen from officers to push against the police line while also deploying a telescoping baton to repeatedly strike at officers’ hands and arms.
He left the tunnel about 4:45 p.m. after he was sprayed with a chemical irritant.
Pleads guilty to felonies
The FBI arrested Mastanduno in North Carolina on Aug. 23, 2023.
In March, he pleaded guilty to a nine-count indictment, including six felony charges, the Observer reported at the time.
The felonies were:
▪ Civil disorder.
▪ Entering and remaining in a restricted area with a deadly and dangerous weapon.
▪ Becoming involved in physical violence in a restricted area or groups with a deadly and dangerous weapon.
▪ Two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a deadly and dangerous weapon.
Mastanduno also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sentenced Mastanduno to 4 years and nine months in prison, one of the longest sentences given to a North Carolina resident convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 violence.
