LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An Elizabethtown, Kentucky, man was sentenced to six months in prison after a felony conviction involving pushing against police and helping other rioters physically fight officers while trying to break into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
William "Jessie" Stover, 46, was also sentenced July 9 to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder, according to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department.
Stover was sentenced with two other men he traveled to Washington with.
According to the news release Thursday, Stover was part "of the mob that relentlessly pushed against police officers in the Tunnel in an attempt to breach a police line defending then entrance to the Capitol."
Stover was present at the police line in a tunnel for about an hour pushing to get by officers, according to body-worn camera footage.
At one point, Stover is accused of grabbing the side of the tunnel, hoisting himself up, reaching over the heads of riot officers and grabbing the helmet of the nearest police officer.
Stover, according to the arrest report, also obtained a U.S. Capitol Police riot shield, which he handed to another rioter who was climbing up behind him. That person used the shield to fight police, according to the FBI.
Eventually, Stover was pushed away from the tunnel, according to the charging summary.
Stover had traveled to Washington with others to attend former President Donald Trump's Stop the Steal Rally. He was arrested July 10, 2023.
A cooperating witness traveling with Stover said Stover admitted fighting with the Proud Boys near the Senate side of the Capitol against police officers. That witness, who is unnamed in the report, pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Stover allegedly told the witness he had "body slammed" an officer and hit him, and that the Proud Boys had been impressed and wanted him to join. The witness told investigators where Stover lived.
On June 4, 2021, law enforcement made contact with Stover at his Elizabethtown home, but he would not speak to them, according to the court records.
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