Indiana man pleads guilty, admits to being in US Capitol during January 6 insurrection

ByChuck Goudie and Ross Weidner, Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel WLS logo
Saturday, May 21, 2022
IN man pleads guilty to being in US Capitol during Jan 6 insurrection
Pictures from Capitol security cameras show the 55-year-old coming through a busted-out window next to a Senate side door.

Jeffrey Munger made a 14-minute mistake. That's how long the Indiana man now admits he was inside the Capitol during the January 6 attack.

A very quick guilty plea has been worked out by an Indiana man charged in last year's insurrection.

As violent crowds broke through windows at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Jeffrey Munger admits that he then climbed through.

Pictures from Capitol security cameras show the 55-year-old Munger coming through a busted-out window next to a Senate side door.

RELATED: No jail time for 2 Illinois men who crashed the US Capitol on January 6

At one point, just after the Indiana man gets inside, he is seen stopping to take a selfie.

In D.C. federal court Friday, Munger entered a lightning-fast guilty plea, less than two months after being charged and arrested at his Goshen home.

According to a filing with his plea agreement, Munger said he drove from Indiana to D.C. "to attend the January 6 'Stop the Steal' rally," a protest event challenging the outcome of the presidential election that Donald Trump lost.

RELATED: Chicago man in 'creepy video' charged in Jan. 6 US Capitol attack

Munger now pled guilty to then going to the Capitol, where he "entered the building through a broken window" and "remained in the building for approximately 14 minutes." The FBI gathered GPS and phone records that put Munger on the Capitol grounds for more than one hour and 10 minutes.

His guilty plea is among several hundred of the nearly 800 people charged with January 6 violations.

RELATED: Capitol riot charges: Growing number of guilty pleas for Illinoisans charged in Jan. 6 attack

A database tracking prosecutions from that day in D.C. states that 30% of all charged cases have resulted in convictions, most from guilty pleas.

Sentencing for Jeffrey Munger's 14-minute mistake will be in late September. He is pleading guilty to a single Class B misdemeanor-parading or demonstrating inside the Capitol.

It does carry up to a six-month prison sentence but most similar guilty pleas from the day of insurrection have resulted in probation.