Ex-New York Cop, Marine From Hudson Valley Gets Record Sentence

A retired NYPD officer from the Hudson Valley received the longest sentence for his role in the Capitol riot.

On Thursday, 56-year-old Thomas Webster of the village of Florida, New York, was sentenced in the District of Columbia to 10 years in prison for assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and related charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Former NYPD Officers From Orange County, New York Sentenced

Webster is a retired NYPD officer and former U.S. Marine. It's the longest sentence yet in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. During the riot Webster hit a police officer with a flag pole and attempted o rip off the officer's gas mask.

“As a former police officer and U.S. Marine who took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, Thomas Webster knew the severity of his actions on January 6,” Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Steven M. D’Antuono said. “When he assaulted an officer at the U.S. Capitol that day, Mr. Webster betrayed not only his oath but also his fellow law enforcement officers. Today’s sentencing – the longest given to any Capitol riots subject to date — matches the gravity of Mr. Webster’s offenses."

Webster was arrested on Feb. 21, 2021. This past May a jury found him guilty of five felonies: assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon; obstructing officers during a civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, while carrying a dangerous weapon; engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, while carrying a dangerous weapon, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, while carrying a dangerous weapon.

He was also was found guilty of engaging in an act of physical violence in the Capitol building or grounds, a misdemeanor.

"As a former Marine and retired police officer, Thomas Webster could readily see the growing dangers to law enforcement when he and other members of the mob targeted the Capitol on January 6th," U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said. “He chose to escalate the situation, brutally going on the attack. Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his repeated attacks of an officer that day.”

A retired NYPD officer from the Hudson Valley received the longest sentence for his role in the Capitol riot.

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Ex U.S. Marine From Florida, New York Heading To Prison

According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, Webster first attended a rally and then moved to the Capitol, where he illegally entered the Capitol grounds wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a large metal flagpole bearing the red and yellow flag of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Around 2:30 p.m., Webster pointed his finger and yelled at a Metropolitan Police Department who was behind the metal gates. He cursed at the officer and told him to take off his badge.

Soon after he shoved the gate into the officers body, raised the flagpole and forcefully swung it towards the officer. The officer wrestled the flagpole away.

Webster then broke through the metal barricade, tackled the officer to the ground, and tried to remove his helmet and gas mask. He also choked the officer.

The officer sustained several injuries.

Following his prison term,