An Illinois man who purportedly described strolling through the U.S. Capitol as being “like going to the shopping mall,” has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
David Wiersma, 66, now faces up to six months in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., to a charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
A 12-page charging document against Wiersma included screenshots of Facebook posts apparently made by Wiersma. One reads: “It was staged by ANTIFA, BLM and Capitol police. The police moved barricades and encouraged people to go in. There are videos and I spoke with people. By the time we got there it was like going to the shopping mall. People talking and joking with police just coming and going. If I had thought at anytime we were in danger we would have left.”
The FBI was tipped off to Wiersma by someone who worked with him at PCI Energy Center, a division of Westinghouse Electric, in Lake Bluff, according to the document. On a separate Facebook account also allegedly tied to Wiersma, the feds said they found a video of a man wearing a red-and-blue baseball cap and an American-flag scarf they identified as Wiersma.
They said they were then able to find Wiersma in security footage from the Capitol.
At least 30 other Illinois residents have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol organized by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Capitol police were attacked and injured as the crowd breached the building, forcing a halt to a joint session of Congress that was in the midst of affirming Joe Biden’s Electoral College win in the 2020 presidential election. Then-Vice President Mike Pence, presiding at the joint session, was forced to evacuate to a secure location within the Capitol.
In the 19 months since then, more than 860 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states in connection with the attack.
Sentencing is set for Nov. 29.
