WASHINGTON — A Virginia man pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of assaulting police with a dangerous weapon for attacking officers with a stick during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Jonathan Gennaro Mellis, of Williamsburg, appeared before U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss to enter his plea. The judge set a sentencing hearing for Sept. 13 at 2 p.m.
Mellis was arrested in February 2021 and charged with multiple felony counts of assault, obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder. According to charging documents, body worn camera (BWC) footage showed Mellis, also known as “Jon Gennaro,” attacking police with a stick on near the entrance to the Lower West Terrace Tunnel.
“Mellis can be heard saying, ‘Knock their masks off,’ before the BWC shows Mellis’ hand – wielding the stick – come over the top of the first individual, striking at the officers who were protecting the entryway to the Capitol Building,” an FBI agent wrote in a statement of facts filed in the case. “Another video retrieved by law enforcement of that altercation clearly shows Mellis’ actions, and even further captures Mellis repeatedly striking and making stabbing movements towards the officers with the weapon in his hand. Mellis appears to be making at contact or attempting to strike the officers’ necks between their helmets and body-armor where they are not protected.”
Mellis was identified when “multiple concerned citizens” contacted the FBI after seeing photographs of him wearing a large white cowboy hat during the riot.
Other riot defendants convicted of assaulting police have received sentences ranging from anywhere between five to 14 years in prison. Mark Ponder, a D.C. man who pleaded guilty to assaulting police with a metal pole, was sentenced in April 2022 to five years behind bars. Last month, former U.S. Army Ranger Robert Morss was sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for his role in the prolonged assault on police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel.
Mellis will receive credit for the more than two years he’s served in pretrial detention since his arrest in early 2021.