Chicago-born delivery driver sentenced to 10 days in prison for role in Jan. 6 US Capitol attack

WASHINGTON (WLS) -- The I-Team has learned a Chicago Jan. 6 defendant, who said he was coerced into signing a plea deal, will have to spend some time in prison.

On Tuesday, a U.S. district court judge in D.C. sentenced Athanasios Zoyganeles to 10 days of incarceration and nine months of probation. He pleaded guilty to several Capitol attack charges, but told the I-Team back in June his attorney talked him into signing the deal. The judge dismissed his claim.

The Chicago-born delivery driver said he was at the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021, for the rally for then-President Donald Trump. He said he went to the Capitol building, where he claims a protest was underway.

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"It wasn't an insurrection. You know, people didn't then go across the barriers... If it was an insurrection, they would have rushed those barriers. They never once went across those barriers," Zoyganeles said during a June interview with the I-Team.

Video evidence and police say rioters broke them down.

Zoyganeles admits going inside the Capitol with the crowd, and is pictured in the building in the criminal complaint. During Tuesday's sentencing hearing, the government dropped the other three charges against him.

The I-Team reached out to Zoyganeles and his attorney for comment, but the messages were not returned.