More than 1,500 people have been charged for crimes related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Ohio Pastor William Dunfee used a bullhorn to spur on the mob. Dunfee was charged with and convicted of two felonies, with a sentence of 30 months in prison and an order to pay $12,000.
“What kind of man of God would do that, sir?” asked presiding Judge Reggie Walton.
OH Pastor William Dunfee Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Jan. 6 Attack
On Jan. 6, 2021, a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in the middle of the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. After a speech made by former President Donald Trump urging supporters to “fight like hell,” the mob threatened the lives of Congress members as they took over the building.
According to United Press International (UPI), a pastor from Ohio, William Dunfee, was among the 1,500 suspects who faced felony charges for their actions that day. Dunfee “used a bullhorn to egg them on, falsely proclaiming Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.”
The Justice Department said in a statement that Dunfee was convicted of two felony counts of “obstruction of an official proceeding or aiding and abetting and civil disorder” and two misdemeanor counts “of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds following a bench trial before Judge Walton on Jan. 22, 2024.”
Court documents include details prior to the Jan. 6 riot. Dunfee supposedly had posted a video on social media (on Dec. 27, 2020) directed toward the pastor’s congregation. “The Government, the tyrants, the socialists, the Marxists, the progressives, the RINOs, they fear you,” the video said. “And they should. Our problem is we haven’t given them reason to fear us.”
On the day of the U.S. Capitol riot, Dunfee used a metal barricade to physically push against U.S. Capitol police officers, according to the Justice Department. The officers were attempting to hold back the protest, protecting those inside the U.S. Capitol.
Dunfee also used a bullhorn to help communicate on behalf of the mob. “This election has been stolen right out from underneath of our noses and it is time for the American people to rise up,” Dunfee shouted in a video from the Justice Department. “Rise up. Rise up. Today is the day in which it is that these elected officials realize that we are no longer playing games. That we are not sheeple that are just going to be corralled according to their whims and their wills.”
The Justice Department said Dunfee addressed police during the attack, saying, “Mr. Police Officers, we want you to understand something. We want you to understand something. We want Donald Trump and if Donald Trump is not coming, we are taking our house. We are taking our house.”
The mob attack delayed election certification. Congress members were working on certifying the electoral results but had to take shelter during the riot. When Dunfee learned that the mob did, in fact, interfere with the certification, the Justice Department said he yelled, “Hallelujah! Mission accomplished.”
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