Ohio pastor who urged on Jan. 6 mob with bullhorn sentenced to prison

An Ohio pastor who authorities say used a bullhorn to incite the mob on Jan. 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to prison Thursday after being found guilty of multiple offenses.

William Dunfee, 59, was sentenced on Thursday to two and a half years in prison and three years of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which added that he was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 restitution.

"His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election," the DOJ said in a statement.

Dunfee was convicted in January of two felony charges, obstruction of an official proceeding or aiding and abetting and civil disorder, and one misdemeanor, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

According to authorities, court documents showed that Dunfee posted a video to social media in December, 2020 telling his congregation in Warsaw, Ohio, that “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.”

“January 4th through 6th … Are you ready?” he added.

The department also said that Dunfee illegally entered Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 and used a bullhorn to exhort the crowd. In a separate video at the Capitol, Dunfee allegedly tells the mob that the election "has been stolen."

“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. That we are not sheeple that are just going to be corralled according to their whims and their wills," Dunfee said in the video filmed at the Capitol, the DOJ said.

It also noted that Dunfee pushed against a metal barricade against U.S. Capitol Police officers, adding that surveillance cameras captured Dunfee pushing against the barricade and entering restricted areas of Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.

Since the Jan. 6 riot, more than 1,500 people have been charged in relation to the Jan. 6 breach and more than 500 individuals have been charged with the felony of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, federal authorities noted.

In June, The Supreme Court ruled that an obstruction law used to charge scores of Jan. 6 rioters and former President Trump was improperly applied, allowing for the possibility of sentence reductions related to their cases.