Ohio Man Sentenced for Role in U.S. Capitol Breach
WASHINGTON – An Ohio man has been sentenced to prison following his conviction on felony and misdemeanor charges related to his actions during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. The incident disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was convened to certify the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election.
William Dunfee, 59, of Frazeysburg, Ohio, received a sentence on September 19, 2024, of 30 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton also ordered Dunfee to pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution. Dunfee was sentenced for one felony offense of civil disorder and a misdemeanor offense of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.
Dunfee was convicted of two felony offenses, obstruction of an official proceeding or aiding and abetting, and civil disorder, along with the misdemeanor offense of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. The convictions followed a bench trial before Judge Walton on January 22, 2024.
Court documents reveal that Dunfee, a pastor at New Beginnings Ministry Warsaw in Warsaw, Ohio, posted a video on the Ministry’s Facebook page on December 27, 2020. In the video, Dunfee told his congregation, “The Government, the tyrants, the socialists, the Marxists, the progressives, the RINOs, they fear you. And they should. Our problem is we haven’t given them reason to fear us.” He further stated, “It’s not over,” and mentioned dates from January 4th to 6th, asking, “Are you ready?”
On January 6, 2021, Dunfee illegally entered the Capitol grounds and used a bull horn to rouse the crowd. In a video filmed at the Capitol, Dunfee declared, “This election has been stolen right out from underneath of our noses and it is time for the American people to rise up. Rise up. Rise up. Today is the day in which it is that these elected officials realize that we are no longer playing games.” Later, he added, “We will stand up for our country. We are standing up for our freedoms. We are standing up for our president. And today is the day these elected officials, these senators and these congressmen, understand that we are not going to allow this to continue any longer.”
At 1:35 p.m., Dunfee addressed the police officers, saying, “We want Donald Trump and if Donald Trump is not coming, we are taking our house. We are taking our house.” Minutes later, at 1:44 p.m., he pushed a metal barricade against U.S. Capitol Police officers. He repeated this action at approximately 1:58 p.m. Dunfee then moved to the front of a crowd at the East Front entrance to the Capitol. Though he walked away as others entered the building, he remained in the vicinity. As rioters exited, one individual stated, “We did it. We shut ‘em all down. We did our job.” Dunfee responded, “Hallelujah,” and remarked, “Mission accomplished.”
Surveillance cameras documented Dunfee’s actions, showing him resisting U.S. Capitol Police by pushing a metal barricade and entering restricted areas. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
The FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office investigated the case, receiving valuable support from the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.
Since January 6, 2021, over 1,504 individuals from nearly all 50 states have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol breach, including more than 560 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation is ongoing.
