Court documents allege Bonawitz came to the Capitol armed with a knife and "prepared for violence" before assaulting at least six law enforcement officers. He's alleged to have hurled himself at officers, tackled them to the ground, and placed one of them in a chokehold.
He pleaded guilty in federal court to three felonies: one count of civil disorder and two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding police.
One Capitol Police officer assaulted by Bonawitz wrote a letter to the judge ahead of the sentencing, in which he asked the court to consider the trauma Bonawitz and other rioters inflicted that day. The officer noted that before rushing over and attacking him, Bonawitz was jumping up and down on the inauguration stage "with a smile on his face like he was on top of the world."
The officer called January 6 "a nightmare for me that nearly cost me my life" and said he is retiring early as a result of his injuries.
"I’m unable to function as normal people would in large crowds without having panic attacks and paranoia set in," wrote Capitol Police Sgt. Federico A. Ruiz, an Army veteran. "I spend a lot of time these days looking for pain relief; the simple act of sitting or walking has become a painful ordeal that has diminished my quality of life."
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of five years and 11 months for Bonawitz.
The original story follows below.
A South Florida man associated with the far-right Proud Boys has been arrested for allegedly assaulting multiple officers while storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Nearly two years after several others linked to the Proud Boys were first nabbed for participating in the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, Kenneth Bonawitz — AKA #MAGAMarlin — was arrested in late January for his alleged role in the attack. The FBI says the 57-year-old Pompano Beach man was among the first rioters to break through a Capitol Police barricade at the west end of the building before he assaulted a handful of law enforcement officers while carrying a sheathed knife on his belt.
Bonawitz faces eight federal charges, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, inflicting bodily injury, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Bonawitz is being held at the Broward County Main Jail in downtown Fort Lauderdale under a hold by the U.S. Marshals.Kenneth Bonawitz, known to Jan. 6 sleuths as #MAGAMarlin has been arrested in Florida. He was armed with a knife at the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/2DTdMkqJNu
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 27, 2023
Sporting a gray T-shirt with the words "Getcha some freedom," a red MAGA hat, and a black leather jacket, Bonawitz was captured on several Capitol Police officers' body-worn cameras throughout the afternoon on January 6, 2021, according to an FBI affidavit (attached to the bottom of this story).
At around 2:30 p.m., shortly after Capitol Police called upon the D.C. National Guard for backup with the unfolding situation, Bonawitz, a heavyset bald man, was captured running and leaping onto a stage built for President Joe Biden's then-upcoming inauguration. He then hurled himself onto two police officers and tackled them to the ground, the FBI alleges. One officer was left with shoulder and neck injuries.
Shortly after, several officers noticed that Bonawitz was armed with a roughly eight-inch-long hunting knife, which they promptly snagged and discarded.
As officers attempted to press back on the line of rioters descending on the Capitol building, Bonawitz resisted their efforts –– grabbing a female officer and lifting her off the ground, swinging at another officer immediately afterward, and then proceeding to shove a third officer who tried to intervene, according to the court documents.
"Bonawitz's assaultive conduct ended after [Metropolitan Police Department] officers pushed him back into the crowd for a second time and deployed chemical agent to his face," the affidavit alleges.
After receiving a tip that Bonawitz was at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the FBI interviewed him at his Pompano Beach home.
While Bonawitz admitted to traveling to D.C. that day for a one-day trip and told investigators he was tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed while participating in protests, he denied that he had entered the Capitol or any restricted grounds. He also denied engaging in physical confrontations with law enforcement.
The FBI identified Bonawitz thanks to the distinctive tattoo of a large marlin on his chest (hence the nickname #MAGAMarlin), social media, and his appearance on a Proud Boys meet-up poster that circulated in South Florida last May, according to the court filings. His links to the group have been documented by online activists who logged pictures of him wearing distinctive black-and-yellow gear alongside Proud Boys demonstrators.
Among the evidence listed in court documents of Bonawitz's actions at the Capitol is a January 9, 2021, Facebook video taken in Florida in which Bonawitz is shown confronting a person about the January 6 events, lifting his shirt to reveal purported bruises and seemingly touting his participation that day.
"Look dude, I was there alright," Bonawitz told the person in the video, according to court documents. "This is compliments of the D.C. police."
