Klete Keller, Olympic gold medalist swimmer, gets 6 months in home detention for Jan. 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — Olympic gold medalist Klete Keller, who threw his U.S. team jacket in a trash can after storming the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced Friday to six months of house arrest for joining the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the seat of the U.S. Mafia. democracy.

At 6 feet tall, Keller towered over police officers guarding the Capitol and other Donald Trump supporters who breached the building, and he was quickly identified by authorities. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2021 and was one of the first rioters to publicly agree to cooperate with authorities investigating the attack on the Capitol.

Video captured Keller leading profane chants targeting then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats. He also joined a chorus of rioters and sang the national anthem in the middle of the Capitol. He resisted efforts to remove him from the Capitol, snatching an elbow and shaking off a police officer, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sentenced Keller to three years of probation, including six months of home confinement, and ordered him to perform 360 hours of community service.

Keller told the judge he knew his actions on Jan. 6 put lawmakers in fear and made it harder for police to do their jobs.

“I have no excuse as to why I stand before you today,” he said. “I understand that my actions were criminal and that I am fully responsible for my behavior.”

During the January 6 riot, Keller wore a jacket with an American flag on the sleeve, an Olympic team patch on the front and the letters “USA” on the back. Prosecutors said he threw the jacket in a trash can on his way back to a hotel and later smashed his cell phone with a hammer because he knew he was “fleeing a crime scene.”

“Klete Derik Keller once carried the American flag as an Olympian. On January 6, 2021, he threw that flag into a trash can,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Keller's attorney said he threw the jacket away out of shame after leaving the Capitol and meeting a young boy and his father on the train. The boy asked Keller about his Olympic career and asked for a photo with him, attorney Zachary Deubler said in a court filing.

Keller felt that “he let this young man down by behaving the way he did, and the moment this young man and father found out what he did, their admiration for him would disintegrate,” Deubler wrote.

Investigators never recovered the jacket or any cell phone videos or photos he recorded inside the Capitol. Keller surrendered to authorities about a week after returning home to Colorado.

Keller has been cooperating with investigators since pleading guilty to obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. Prosecutors pointed to Keller's “substantial assistance” as grounds for leniency. Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a prison sentence ranging from 15 to 21 months.

Prosecutors said his early guilty plea “undoubtedly reached thousands of others who were unsure whether to turn themselves in, plead guilty or even cooperate.” They added that his “public acknowledgment that his interference with the peaceful transfer of power was in fact a serious crime provided an important counterbalance to the false narrative that January 6 was a peaceful, lawful protest.”

Keller experienced personal and financial problems after retiring from professional swimming. After divorcing his wife in 2014, Keller lived out of his car for nearly a year while working three jobs to pay child support and other expenses, his attorney said.

After the Capitol riot, he lost a job and regular visits with his children. Last year, he signed the paperwork for his children to be adopted by their stepfather, his attorney said.

“I hope my case serves as a warning to anyone who rationalizes illegal behavior, especially in a moment of political fervor,” Keller wrote in a letter to the judge. “The consequences of my behavior will haunt me and my family for the rest of our lives.”

On January 6, Keller attended then-President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally at the White House with a friend before marching with a crowd to the Capitol. He entered the building through an open door on the Upper West Terrace and remained inside for almost an hour.

Keller came within 50 feet of the Senate chamber, which lawmakers evacuated as the crowd engulfed the building. Police officers had to forcibly remove Keller and other rioters from the Capitol through the East Rotunda lobby.

Keller won five medals, including two golds, while competing for the U.S. at three Summer Olympics. At the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, he won an individual bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle and a silver medal as the anchor leg of a relay.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, Keller swam the anchor leg as the U.S. won gold medals in the 800-meter freestyle relay. He and teammates Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay narrowly held off a rival Australian team. At the 2008 Games in Beijing, China, Mr. Keller won another gold medal in a freestyle relay.

About 1,200 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Nearly 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a judge or jury after a trial. More than 700 of them have been convicted, of which about two-thirds receive a prison sentence ranging from three days to 22 years.