Would-be Proud Boy gets 2-week term

I’ve ruined my life, N.J. man tells judge as he’s sentenced for Capitol riot role

A once-aspiring Proud Boy from Camden County, N.J., was sentenced Friday to two weeks of incarceration for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Lawrence Stackhouse III, 33, of Blackwood texted a friend the week before the insurrection asking for an application to join the group. He was wearing a Proud Boys hoodie as he followed the mob past the smashed windows of the Capitol building and through the kicked-in door of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

“I ruined my life with my dumb decisions,” he told U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell during a court hearing in Washington.

But Howell showed little sympathy.

The sentence she imposed — which also included a three-year term of probation, three months of house arrest and $500 in restitution — was less than half of the 45-day jail term prosecutors had originally sought.

Stackhouse, a former sheet metal worker who lost jobs after his arrest last year, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of illegally parading or demonstrating on Capitol grounds.

Despite the interest he’d expressed in joining the Proud Boys, a militant, farright organization, Stackhouse maintains he never followed through on becoming a member and has no interest in joining now.

Still, prosecutors pointed to a chain of text messages eight days before the riot between Stackhouse and a Proud Boys prospect — Michael Gianos, 33, of Marlton — as they made plans to travel to Washington on Jan. 6.

In texts with another charged rioter — Rachel Myers, 33, of Port Richmond — he offered to bring a knife when she said she looked forward to fighting with counterprotesters.

Assistant U.S. Attorney April Ayers-Perez cited those texts as evidence that Stackhouse came to Washington prepared for violence.

And as the mob breached police barriers and fought their way into the Capitol building, Stackhouse passed rioters brawling with officers, people smashing windows and doors on his way inside.

Surveillance footage from the Capitol shows Stackhouse, Gianos and Myers among the people pushing their way through the Senate wing doors. With Stackhouse in his Proud Boys hoodie, they milled about the Rotunda briefly. They followed a man who kicked in the door to the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Afterward, text messages show the trio veering between reveling in their participation in the attack and fretting over whether the FBI would soon show up at their doors.

When photos later surfaced online of Myers on Capitol grounds with her Delilah’s backpack, he reached out to allay her concerns. But it was Stackhouse’s coworkers who first brought him to the attention of authorities.

Agents said Stackhouse had boasted to coworkers about his participation in the riot.

Stackhouse’s attorney, Ubong Akpan, maintained that her client had been misled.

She noted that since his arrest, he’s voluntarily sat for interviews with the FBI and the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Despite the interest he’d expressed in joining the Proud Boys, a militant, far-right organization, Stackhouse maintains he never followed through on becoming a member and has no interest in joining now.