June 1 (UPI) -- A member of the extremist Oath Keepers militia who had guarded Roger Stone, a close friend of former President Donald Trump, before the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for his role in the mayhem.
Roberto Minuta, 38, was previously convicted along with three other members of the militia of seditious conspiracy and other charges in January.
His sentencing hearing came back-to-back with a sentencing hearing for another Oath Keepers member, Edward Vallejo, who was then slapped with a sentence of three years in prison and a year of home confinement, The New York Times reported.
"I was misled and naive," Minuta told U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta before the sentence was handed down, according to Politico.
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The sentencing for the two men comes just over a week after Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, was hit with a sentence of 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Kelly Miggs, another member of the militia, was sentenced to 12 years in prison last week.
Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 17 years in prison for Minuta, the owner of a tattoo shop in Newburgh, N.Y., who drove to Washington ahead of the riot and filmed himself yelling that "millions will die" in a civil war. Later, he served as a bodyguard for Stone ahead of the riot.
Minuta later descended on the Capitol as he and others surrounded law enforcement with golf carts while donning tactical gear. Vallejo was not at the Capitol during the riot but prosecutors said he was stationed at a hotel room in Virginia where the militia was keeping a stockpile of weapons.
"I disavow the Oath Keepers as an organization; I was misled and naïve," Minuta said, as he attempted to distance himself from Rhodes. "I'm repulsed by Mr. Rhodes's lack of remorse."
Vallejo similarly distanced himself from Rhodes, stating he wish he had never associated himself with the Oath Keepers' leader.
Minuta's lawyer William Shipley similarly piled on Rhodes, who he called a "parasite" that took advantage of people.
"Steeping yourself and cloaking yourself in this tradition of the founders and violent uprising and believing the Second Amendment allows individual citizens to gather up arms to battle their government?" Judge Amit Mehta said. "The law doesn't permit that."
