Washington, D.C. — Anthony Mastanduno, a 61-year-old resident of Rutherford County, North Carolina, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and 24 months of supervised release for his violent actions during the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Mastanduno, previously of Farmingdale, New York, had pleaded guilty to six felonies, including civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly weapon, disorderly conduct in a restricted building with a deadly weapon, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a deadly weapon, and two counts of assaulting officers using a deadly weapon.
Mastanduno also pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges: disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence on Capitol grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan handed down the sentence.
According to court documents, Mastanduno entered the Capitol building at approximately 2:17 PM on January 6, 2021, and was involved in violent confrontations with law enforcement officers at the Capitol Crypt and the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. He used a flagpole and a stolen police shield to attack officers, striking them with a telescoping baton.
Mastanduno was arrested by the FBI on August 23, 2023, in North Carolina. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina prosecuted the case. The FBI’s Charlotte, New York, and Washington Field Offices, along with the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department, provided crucial assistance in the investigation.