Ex-officer and Proud Boys member gets 14 months in prison for joining Capitol attack
WASHINGTON — A former police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol with fellow members of the far right Proud boys The extremist group was sentenced to 14 months in prison on Wednesday for joining the terror group January 6, 2021attack by a mob Donald Trump supporters, court records show.
Nathaniel Tuck and other Proud Boys, including his father, were among the first wave of rioters to enter the Capitol grounds after the mob broke through police lines, according to prosecutors.
Tuck, 32, of Apopka, Florida, pushed past police officers to enter the Capitol and berated officers who tried to keep the crowd at bay. He later posed with other Proud Boys members for a celebratory photo outside the Capitol.
“Nathaniel Tuck prepared and carried out these actions as part of a carefully selected group of Proud Boys members who openly discussed their plans for violence at the Capitol and intended to confront police who might attempt to stand in their way ,” prosecutors wrote in a court file.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly allowed Tuck to remain free until he was required to report to prison and begin serving his 14-month sentence. The judge also ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution, court records show.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot. Dozens of them were leaders, members and associates of the Proud Boys.
The president-elect has repeatedly vowed to pardon the Capitol rioters when he returns to the White House later this month. But he did not specify whether pardons would also apply to rioters convicted of engaging in violence or destruction.
Tuck pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor count of obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and a misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted area.
Prosecutors recommended a two-year prison sentence for Tuck, who was a member of the Proud Boys’ “Space Coast” chapter based in central Florida.
From 2012 to 2020, Nathaniel Tuck served as a police officer in Longwood, Florida, and then in Apopka. Prosecutors say he joined the Proud Boys in 2018.
Tuck told a federal probation officer that he quit his law enforcement job in October 2020 “because of the whole situation.” George Floyd thing,” prosecutors said.
Tuck was arraigned before his father, Kevin, who will be sentenced next Tuesday. Kevin Tuk52, was a member of Proud Boys and was working as a police officer in Windermere, Florida, at the time of the riot. The elder Tuck pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
The Tucks traveled to Washington, D.C., and attacked the Capitol with other Proud Boys members who have also been convicted on January 6 charges.
Attorney William Shipley said Nathaniel Tuck committed no violence or damaged any property in the Capitol.
‘He remained primarily a singular member of a much larger group of individuals and primarily observed the behavior of others’ Shipley wrote.
The Proud Boys were a group best known for their street battles with anti-fascist activists, when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys “Stand back and stay with it” during his first debate in 2020 with the then-presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The group’s former top leader, Enrique Tarrioand three of his lieutenants were convicted of seditious conspiracy for a violent plot to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election. Tarrio serves one 22 years in prisonthe longest of any Capitol riot case.