Federal judge ordered Fort Pierce man to serve probation for activities at U.S. Capitol Jan. 6
A Fort Pierce man who video recorded mobs of protesters inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was ordered to serve three years of probation a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled Friday during a sentencing hearing.
Anthony “Tony” Mariotto, 53, had faced a maximum punishment of six months in prison after pleading guilty Sept. 24 to a misdemeanor count of “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building.”
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton also ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine, restitution of $500 and perform 250 hours of community service.
Federal prosecutors agreed to drop four related misdemeanor charges filed after Mariotto’s Jan. 22 arrest in Fort Pierce by FBI special agents who’d been tipped to Jan. 6 videos he posted online.
He documented his time inside the Capitol in cell phone video and in a selfie photo taken inside the Senate Gallery he posted on his Facebook account that he later deleted, court filings show.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberley C. Nielsen Friday sought a split sentence for Mariotto, including four months of incarceration followed by 36 months of probation and $500 in restitution.
Nielsen argued that while Mariotto was not violent during the estimated 20 minutes he remained inside the Capitol, he stood by and video recorded multiple attacks against police officers.
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In court, Mariotto expressed remorse for his actions on Jan. 6.
“I do apologize. I know you hear this every day and people are remorseful or whatever, but I sincerely mean it, I feel like crap,” he told Walton.
“It's my first protest; I got caught up in the moment. I understand I ran my mouth, I get it. But I would never do anything to anybody, and I never undermined me going in there.”
A supporter of former President Donald Trump, Mariotto went to Washington, D.C. that day not to storm the Capitol but to attend rallies at the Ellipse and the Mall, his lawyer Edward D. Reagan stated in a sentencing memo.
“Mr. Mariotto believed what he had heard from the President himself: That the 2020 election had been stolen,” Reagan wrote. “He never planned or envisioned entering the U.S. Capitol. That is until Trump invited everyone to the march at the Capitol.”
Reagan urged Walton to sentence his client to a year of probation, community service and a fine.
Mariotto, during an exchange with Walton, said his hope on Jan. 6 had been that “they would just pause the election.”
“I wish … President Biden would have won by billions of votes and none of this would have happened,” he said.
“He won by seven million,” Walton replied.
“I hoped he won by a billion,” Mariotto countered.
“He won by seven million,” repeated Walton, “which I think it's more than any other president’s ever won by.”
“What I'm saying is I wish everybody would have come together. It's just amazing how we're just so divided in this country,” Mariotto said. “It’s everything: Vaccines, math, elections, it's just like it never ends … and I'm getting caught up in it. But I can just tell you, I would never hurt anybody.”
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Walton lamented people “gullible enough” to accept as truth statements made about the 2020 election that judges nationwide rejected as “ridiculous allegations.”
“It’s tearing our country apart,” he said. “It's making us look horrible in the eyes of the rest of the world.”
Walton dismissed suggestions that Jan. 6 “was a peaceful event by loving people who are patriots.”
“That’s just hogwash,” he said. “The people who did what happened on Jan. 6 were not patriotic, they were anything other than patriotic.”
Chanting mob
Earlier in court, Nielsen played videos Mariotto recorded with his phone that she said showed him chanting with a crowd, “Where are the traitors?” while trying to open doors to offices where terrified Capitol staffers were hiding.
“We know that the Senate is evacuated. We know that there are members of Congress and their staffers that are now hiding as a result of this mob that is in the building,” Nielsen said. “And Mr. Mariotto was walking through the Capitol with this mob trying to open doors.”
But all the doors were locked, she said.
Then, when protesters inside started pushing and shoving at officers, Mariotto kept recording.
“He stood by and he watched officers being overrun. He stood by and recorded officers being assaulted, and he never left,” Nielsen said. “He went further into the building each time, trying to open those locked doors.”
His actions, she argued, showed Mariotto “wanted to frighten our elected officials.”
“He wanted to intimidate our elected officials into doing what he thought was right,” Nielsen said. “He didn't commit any violence … however, he certainly didn't seem to mind that it was happening.”
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In arguing against prison time, Reagan said Mariotto, who has no criminal record, never assaulted a police officer, made no threats of violence and didn’t destroy property. After his arrest, he was suspended from his 25-year job as a pork trader and had to forfeit a $109,200 annual salary and year-end bonuses.
And when Mariotto was contacted by the FBI, he surrendered his phone with the videos he recorded and admitted “100%” his actions in the Capitol were wrong, Reagan said.
“He extremely regrets that he caused individuals within that Capitol building to fear,” Reagan said. “He got caught up in something and … as he sits here today, he feels horrible for that situation.”
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Anthony "Tony" Mariotto to serve probation in Jan. 6 Capitol case
