Stark County man gets 49 months for Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A Stark County man learned Monday he must spend 49 months in federal prison for his role in breaching the U.S. Capitol.
John Douglas Wright, 56, was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, more than two years after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Wright, a Plain Township resident, must report June 16 to begin serving his prison term. Wright also was ordered to pay a restitution of $2,000 to the architect of the Capitol.
At the sentencing, federal prosecutors recommended Wright serve 60 months, arguing that the term must be sufficient enough to be a deterrent for future actions.
Wright addressed Judge Colleen Kollar-kotelly, expressing remorse and taking responsibility.
“I want to apologize for my actions, not just to you, but to the government, to fellow Americans,” Wright said. “I was there and am responsible for it.”
Kollar-kotelly said during the sentencing that Wright is only the second of all of the Jan. 6 defendants to appear in her courtroom to apologize for their actions.
“Our democracy is fragile, and certainly the insurrection has made that clear,” she said.
During the sentencing, the U.S. attorney showed video footage and photographs of Wright at the Capitol. The footage showed Wright pushing against barricades by the Capitol Police, as well as another video showing him pushing a piece of the metal barricade fencing down on a Capitol Police officer.
“We respect the judge’s sentence, although we are disappointed with the severity,” his attorney Noah Munyer said after the sentencing.
According to court documents, Wright organized two charter buses that he owned to travel to Washington, D.C., charging 100 people $50 each to go to D.C. for the “Stop the Steal” rally.
Wright has until June 16 before he must voluntarily surrender at FCI Elkton, a low-security federal prison near Elkton, Ohio. The date was chosen so he could get his business affairs in order. Kollar-kotelly also told Wright that he will be taken off of GPS monitoring for the remainder of the time until he serves his sentence.
Wright was arrested in May 2021. He was among more than 700 people charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol. Thousands descended that day to protest the congressional certification of the Electoral College votes confirming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president.
According to federal court records, Wright was later arrested at his Stark County home and indicted on multiple charges, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.
In August, he pleaded guilty to a single federal charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. Federal prosecutors dismissed the remaining eight counts.