Jan. 6 Defendant Gets More Than 4 Years in Prison for Stealing Badge, Radio From Beaten Officer

Thomas Sibick (L), circled by the Justice Department, during the breach at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Justice Department via AP

A New York man who stole a badge and radio from a police officer during the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol in 2021 was sentenced on July 28 to more than four years in prison.

During a hearing in Washington’s federal court, Thomas Sibick, of Buffalo, was sentenced to a total of 50 months in prison, with 36 months of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $7,500.79 in restitution.

Mr. Sibick pleaded guilty in March for his role in the attack on Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, which amounted to one felony count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and one misdemeanor count of theft. Prior to then, Mr. Sibick pleaded not guilty.

Mr. Fanone has described fighting for his life while on duty to guard the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a letter to the judge, Mr. Sibick, 37, called the trauma Mr. Fanone experienced “undeniably sickening” and said he takes full responsibility for his “uncivilized display of reckless behavior.”

“It was an attack on the institutions of our democracy and not as some would make you believe legitimate political discourse. The attack was far from peaceful, my actions played a role that will follow me for the rest of my life,” Mr. Sibick wrote.

According to Mr. Fanone’s body camera, Mr. Sibick was captured removing the officer’s badge and radio from his tactical vest, per a court filing accompanying Mr. Sibick’s guilty plea.

Before FBI agents showed Mr. Sibick the body camera video, he initially claimed that he tried in vain to pull the officer away from his attackers.

Mr. Sibick said he buried Mr. Fanone’s badge in his backyard after returning home. He later returned the badge, but Mr. Fanone’s $5,500 radio was never recovered.

Mr. Fanone lost consciousness on the day of Jan. 6, 2021, and was taken to an emergency room on the same day. He was attacked after he was pulled into the crowd, away from other officers guarding a tunnel entrance to the U.S. Capitol’s Lower West Terrace.

“Once the officer was in the mob, various members of the crowd began to assault the officer, including by tasing, kicking, punching, grabbing, and throwing objects,” according to a release on the Justice Department’s website. “The officer also had his limbs restrained while a rioter attempted to remove the officer’s service weapon from the holster. Court documents say that a member of the mob threatened to take the officer’s gun and kill the officer.”

Mr. Fanone said the attack gave him a heart attack and a traumatic brain injury and ultimately cost him his career.

Other rioters have been charged with attacking the officer. Albuquerque Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Mr. Fanone into the crowd, was sentenced in October 2022 to seven years and six months in prison. Another man, Daniel Rodriguez of California, was sentenced last month to more than 12 years in prison for driving a stun gun into Fanone’s neck as the officer screamed out in pain.

Arrests Related to the Breach

According to the Justice Department, as of July 2023, more than 1,069 people have been arrested for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. This includes over 350 people who have been accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Mr. Sibick spent eight months behind bars after he was arrested, and later was released on home confinement in October 2021 after his lawyer, Stephen Brennwald, pressed the judge to free him while his case played out.

Mr. Sibick’s attorney had requested a sentence of home confinement. In court papers, Mr. Sibick’s attorney wrote that a mental health misdiagnosis resulted in his client taking medication on Jan. 6 that “severely and negatively impacted him.”

Mr. Sibick’s attorney said that unlike other rioters, his client did not physically assault Mr. Fanone, and their interaction was limited to him grabbing the officer’s radio and badge.

“Mr. Sibick has made a remarkable change in his life since he received his correct mental health diagnosis and has begun cognitive behavioral therapy,” Mr. Brennwald wrote. “Because he sees January 6 for what it was, he is not a threat to re-offend in the future.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.