Millersville man faces sentencing for role in Jan. 6 attack

A Millersville man who once held a leadership role in the Proud Boys, a nationwide fascist group, will be sentenced today for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Scott Thomas Miller, 33, pleaded guilty in January to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. In a sentencing memorandum filed Saturday, federal prosecutors announced their intention to seek 71 months, or nearly six years, in prison for Miller.

According to court filings, Miller was one of several supporters of former President Donald Trump who engaged law enforcement officers at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, a tunnel where some of the most violent confrontations of the day took place.

During the hourslong barricade, Miller can be seen on security cameras striking members of the Metropolitan and Capitol police departments multiple times with several objects, including a metal and wooden pole, a bottle and a speaker. At one point, he ripped a riot shield from two officers and handed it to another person before “disappearing into the crowd,” prosecutors said.

Coming to Washington from Millersville in a truck purchased that day, Miller was wearing orange ski goggles, to protect against tear gas or chemical irritant, and a tan backpack, according to federal officials. According to a sentencing memorandum submitted by Federal Public Defender A.J. Kramer, Miller did not bring a weapon to the Capitol despite being a legally registered gun owner.

Investigators were able to identify Miller after cross-checking images from the attack with those of a West Virginia company where Miller had been employed. The company was not identified in the criminal complaint.

Miller was arrested by the FBI on Dec. 16, 2022, and is being represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Mullin.

Mullin argued that Miller should receive no more than two years’ incarceration, noting his attempts to resuscitate Rosanne Boyland, one of the four people who died attacking the Capitol, his “minimal planning” to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally, and his “immediate” remorse for the day.

Mullin also said Miller left the Proud Boys a month after the Jan. 6 attack, nearly two years before his arrest. In a letter to the court, Miller wrote, “I disavow the group and I regret the influence it had on my life.”

Miller will be sentenced Friday afternoon at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The judge, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, has presided over several cases against

Jan. 6 attackers.

Miller is one of more than 1,200 Americans and 34 Marylanders the Department of Justice has pursued over the past three years, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. As of Monday, he is also the only Jan. 6 defendant from Anne Arundel County.

In the months after the attack, however, the county’s police department internally investigated one of its officers who was present at the insurrection.

The officer, who was not named but suspended with pay, was eventually absolved after Anne Arundel Police officials determined he had not violated the department’s policies, or any state or federal laws.

Miller’s detention for the Jan. 6 attack was not his first politically charged arrest.

He was detained in 2019 and banned for a year from all Anne Arundel libraries after joining nearly 30 protesters demonstrating against a Drag Queen Storytime. One of two people who went inside the Severna Park Community Library to disrupt the event, he was charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.

According to public records, the case was put on the stet, or inactive docket, a few months later. It is no longer available to review through the Maryland Judiciary.

Drag Queen Storytimes, a popular event where performers read books to children, were regularly interfered with by far-right objectors, who claimed they were corrupting the youth — something reportedly yelled in the Severna Park library before Miller’s arrest.

According to his attorney’s sentencing memorandum, Miller, who graduated from Liberty University in 2014, said he joined the Proud Boys “looking for a community” and had “enjoyed the sense of belonging … the group gave him.”

Searching his home in December 2022, law enforcement found patches, insignia clothing, bumper stickers and a document indicating he had held a leadership role in the Proud Boys. They also recovered items featuring Nazi insignias and a shirt designed to appear like the Minneapolis police uniform worn by Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd in 2020.

Federal prosecutors said Miller had worn the shirt as a Halloween costume.

During their search, officials seized four guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, armor plates and a tactical vest.

The federal government is continuing to investigate those present at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (2555324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.