A Mercer County man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in starting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Stephen Chase Randolph, 34, of Harrodsburg, was sentenced Friday, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.
Evidence at trial showed Randolph was one of a group of five men who ”participated in the first breach of the restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and led the initial attack on United States Capitol Police (USCP) officers,” according to the release. “Their attack paved the way for thousands of rioters to storm the Capitol grounds.”
On the afternoon of Jan. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the Capitol grounds were barricaded off with bike racks linked together. One of the men sentenced Thursday opened a section in one row of racks, and the rioters, including Randolph, walked past them and on toward the Capitol.
Capitol police were standing behind a second row of barricades, and when the group came to them, “Randolph began to forcibly push and pull on the fence directly across from USCP officers,” the release states.