A Kentucky man has been sentenced for his participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol.
Dan Edwin Wilson of Louisville was arrested on May 25, 2023, in Elizabethtown for his actions during the breach of the Capitol during the count of the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election.
Wilson pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of Conspiracy to Impede or Injure a Federal Officer, after previously pleading guilty in the District Court for the Western District of Kentucky to charges of Possession of a Firearm by a Prohibited Person and Possession of an Unregistered Firearm. Wilson was sentenced in the D.C. court Wednesday to five years in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and to pay $2,000 in restitution.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia says Wilson began planning to go to the Capitol to take part in the events on January 6 in December, writing in online messages “I am ready to lay my life on the line. It’s time for good men to do bad things.” After joining the march to the Capitol, Wilson began messaging other participants telling them to help push against the barricade at the Capitol. Wilson later entered the Capitol for about 12 minutes.
Wilson traveled to D.C. with David Scott Kuntz of Indiana, who was arrested in March. Kuntz’s case is still pending.
Wilson’s sentencing comes a day after another Kentucky resident, Michael Sparks of Elizabethtown, was sentenced to 53 months in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of felony charges of Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Civil Disorder.The U.S. Attorney’s Office says evidence at Sparks’s trial showed that he was the first of the rioters to enter the Capitol during the attack. Sparks was arrested in Elizabethtown on January 19, 2021.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says nearly 1,500 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for their participation in the January 6 attack. The FBI’s investigation remains ongoing and tips are still being collected. If you have information, call 1-800-CALL-FBI or visit tips.fbi.gov.
