Man pleads guilty to taking pepper spray during Capitol riots

An upstate New York man pleaded guilty to charges he stole a police officer’s can of pepper spray during a chaotic standoff with officers guarding the U.S. Capitol building during the riot from January 6, 2021.

Federal prosecutors said Friday that Troy Weeks, 38, was part of a group that tried to overwhelm police officers who blocked the entrance to the building as supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the grounds from the Capitol to protest Trump’s election defeat.

He pleaded guilty to charges of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or obstructing an officer, as well as a handful of related misdemeanor charges. His lawyers did not immediately return an emailed request for comment.

On January 6, Weeks pushed his way through the crowd to a line of police stationed at the entrance to the Capitol, reaching through a broken window to retrieve a can of pepper spray from an officer, authorities said. The officer managed to grab the can from Weeks as he stuck his arm out the window, according to court documents.

Weeks then walked through a series of doors and slipped through the line of officers, clinging to one of their shields before an officer pepper-sprayed him, authorities said. He eventually exited through the entrance, but returned about 40 minutes later with other rioters to push back the police cordon again.

Weeks remained on the Capitol grounds after his confrontation with police, and was later recorded on a body camera asking officers why they weren’t “protecting the ballots,” according to court documents.

Law enforcement used footage from the Capitol and compared it to a photo on Instagram to identify Weeks, according to court records. Authorities then went to his hometown of Greenville in upstate New York to track down a relative, a landlord and a co-worker, and eventually obtained bank records and video of Weeks at an ATM automatically to better identify it.

The U.S. Department of Justice said more than 1,400 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot, and their investigation remains ongoing. Weeks is expected to be sentenced in November.