Zachary Johnson, a 34-year-old Tampa-area Proud Boy nicknamed #GogglesMan on social media, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to more than three years in prison and another three years of supervised release for his role in the insurrection. In August, Johnson pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers after prosecutors claimed that he helped coordinate pushes against police and passed a sledgehammer and pepper spray to other rioters while working with fellow Proud Boys.
On January 6, 2021, Johnson traveled from his home in Florida to Washington, D.C., to protest Congress' certification of the Electoral College vote for the election of President Joe Biden, according to court documents.Feds seeking more than four years in federal prison for Jan. 6 defendant and fourth-degree Proud Boy Zachary Johnson, who was in the Tampa chapter. pic.twitter.com/qRIyEBu0Fp
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) November 22, 2023
Sporting a ballistic plate carrier and a pair of gray goggles, Johnson met up with a group of roughly 100 other members in the morning at the base of the Washington Monument per Proud Boy leaders' instruction, according to federal prosecutors.
At around 10:30 a.m., leaders of the far-right group organized the men, including Johnson, into formation and marched them toward the Capitol. Johnson marched alongside Proud Boy members to the Capitol grounds, where they eventually charged through the barricades and were among the first to breach the restricted perimeter, prosecutors alleged.
According to court documents, Johnson advanced with four members of the Tampa Proud Boys chapter into the area known as the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against police that day. He then joined other rioters in a collective push against the established police lines, in which they chanted "Heave, ho!" as they bashed their way into the Capitol.
Once pushed outside the tunnel by police, Johnson helped pass a sledgehammer and a large canister of pepper spray up to other rioters closer to the entrance.
"As Johnson intended, those rioters then sprayed the officers with the agent, further assaulting the officers protecting the Capitol," according to prosecutors.
Johnson is one of numerous Proud Boys indicted for breaching the Capitol during the certification of Electoral College votes.
Miami native Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys chairman at the time, was sentenced in September to 22 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the Capitol attack, although he wasn't present at the riot, having been arrested two days earlier on charges related to the burning of a stolen Black Lives Matter flag. Four prominent members of the Proud Boys — Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola — were tried alongside Tarrio and received felony convictions for storming the Capitol.
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