N. COUNTY MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN CAPITOL RIOT
Admits to shoving and striking officers during Jan. 6 breach
A former Marine who had been living in an Oceanside sober-living home before being arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol pleaded guilty Friday to assaulting law enforcement officers.
In his plea agreement, James McGrew, 40, admitted joining crowds of insurgents in pushing back against police trying to gain control, including shoving and striking officers, stealing one’s baton and launching a massive wooden handrail into a tunnel toward officers.
Like many rioters, McGrew filmed the breach on his cellphone, and his image — in a gray, black and white Columbia jacket — was caught by several others filming inside the Capitol that day. A large “King James” tattoo on his stomach, which had been documented in booking photos for past crimes, helped identify him, according to a search warrant affidavit.
A tipster contacted the FBI the day after the attack and said McGrew had talked about going to Washington
to “protest” the “stolen vote,” according to the affidavit. The tipster also described McGrew as a someone who believed in some elements of QAnon conspiracy theories.
After marching from a rally led by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Capitol with his mother, McGrew was recorded shouting “let’s go” 14 times, according to the plea agreement and other court records. Then, behind the sound of barricades being pushed aside, he yelled “we took this thing.”
Once inside, he struck a Metropolitan police officer who was trying to move insurgents out of the Great Rotunda,
and later struck another officer and lunged for his baton. In another scuffle with another officer, he successfully snatched a baton but then handed it back.
About 45 minutes later, as McGrew was near the Lower West Tunnel entrance, someone in the crowd handed him a wooden handrail with metal brackets attached that, when stood upright, was nearly as tall as him. He launched it over his head toward officers in the tunnel, according to the plea. It appeared to strike an officer’s visor or shield.
McGrew was injured by an improvised explosive device while fighting in Fallujah,
Iraq, during the 2005 surge and was medically discharged in 2007, according to a motion filed by his attorney. He has had to be treated for several medical issues by the VA.
McGrew had been living in North County, including at a sober-living facility in Oceanside, months after the siege, according to the affidavit. He left at the end of April 2021, flying to Mississippi apparently to meet with a probation officer overseeing him on previous convictions — possession of a precursor for methamphetamine, shoplifting and car theft. He never made the meeting.
He eventually made it back to San Diego, staying in Vista for a bit before heading to the Phoenix area to stay with a family member.
He was arrested at the family member’s apartment in Glendale, Ariz., on May 28, 2021.
He is set to be sentenced in August in Washington, where the Capitol cases are being handled.
Several other people with ties to San Diego County have already pleaded guilty for their roles in the insurrection, while at least one more remains under investigation.