Two men, one from Texas and the other from Hawaii, were sentenced on Friday for their actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Nicholas Ochs, 36, of Honolulu, Hawaii, was also sentenced to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding. Ochs is the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys.
“The Proud Boys describe themselves as members of a ‘pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world, aka Western Chauvinists,’” the release said.
DeCarlo and Ochs traveled from their home states and met up in Virginia on Jan. 5, where they stayed together in a hotel overnight. The following morning they attended a “Stop the Steal” rally together before marching to the Capitol with others who attended the protest.
“We’re not supposed to be here, this is beyond the fence,” Ochs told DeCarlo.
“We’re all felons, yeah!” DeCarlo responded.
The two continued walking through the scaffolding but then returned to the West Front. Each of the men threw a smoke bomb at the police line that was attempting to block protesters; DeCarlo told Ochs he had forgotten to “pull the pin” on his smoke bomb, according to the papers.
At approximately 2:12 p.m., DeCarlo and Ochs climbed the stairs to the Upper West Terrace. Nine minutes later, they entered the Capitol through the Senate wing doors and continued down a hallway and through an atrium before arriving at the Crypt of the Capitol.
According to court documents, DeCarlo and Ochs operated a social media channel called “Murder the Media,” where they posted images and videos of themselves from inside the Capitol.
DeCarlo and Ochs stopped in the Crypt, where they took photos of themselves smoking cigarettes.
“Hello from the Capital. lol,” Ochs posted on social media along with the photos.
“Where’s Nancy?” DeCarlo yelled. “Where you at, Nancy?”
They continued making their way through the building, entering the East Foyer at about 2:42 p.m., where they met up with other Proud Boys and another individual before heading to the Rotunda, the documents said.
Next, they headed to the rotunda.
“Nancy’s office!” DeCarlo and Ochs yelled and pointed toward an exit where a group of protestors soon gathered.
At about 3 p.m., DeCarlo and Ochs left the Capitol.
Several minutes later, they approached the Chestnut-Gibson Memorial Door, where DeCarlo used a permanent marker to write “Murder the Media” on the door while Ochs recorded it on his phone. Then they took photos of themselves in front of the door and posted them on social media.
While at the memorial door, they also rummaged through a police duffle bag and took a pair of plastic handcuffs, according to the DOJ.
Later, the men filmed themselves walking through the streets of Washington and bragging about their actions.
“Viewers, … we have some good news: … we have just uh peeked through this window, and on the television the headline reads that Congress stopped the vote when we stormed the Capitol. And, as we’ve been saying all day, we came here to stop the steal,” Ochs said.
“We did it,” DeCarlo said.
“We were being sarcastic, but we didn’t know we were actually going to …,” Ochs replied.
“Wait, you were being sarcastic?” DeCarlo asked.
“I was being a bit facetious,” Ochs answered.
“Oh no, that’s what I came down here to do. We [expletive] did it,” DeCarlo said. “It may resume, but the steal is stopped for now. You’re welcome, America!”
In addition to their sentences, DeCarlo was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and $2,000 in restitution, and Ochs was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.
