Cleona resident Cameron Hess, 26, pleaded guilty on Oct. 6 to a single charge of civil disorder resulting from his participation in the Jan. 6 violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of losing presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The charge alleges that Hess was part of the mob that obstructed law enforcement officers defending the Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Hess was not charged until February 2023, after two witnesses submitted tips to the FBI and identified him in photos taken during the invasion.
The plea was entered before Senior Judge Royce Lamberth in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
A number of other charges were dropped by prosecutors as part of a plea agreement.
The federal offense is a felony carrying a potential five-year jail sentence. In a court filing, the U.S. Attorney’s office said it believes sentencing guidelines require a sentence between 24 and 30 months.
No sentencing date has been set.
Detailed admission of his criminal acts
In a signed statement filed in court, Hess admitted that, if his case went to trial, federal prosecutors would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he entered the Capitol rotunda, was initially pushed out by riot police, then re-entered the Capitol and assaulted officers.
Hess acknowledged that photographs and video obtained by prosecutors show him pushing through a Capitol entrance with the mob, struggling against officers trying to close an entrance door, and wiping pepper spray from his eyes.
Hess also admitted sending text messages on Jan. 6 saying “people storming the Capitol” and that he was “in the thick of it.” That evening he bragged, “I was brawling at the door.”
He admitted sending another message several days later saying, “Don’t tell anyone I was there.”
Agrees to cooperate with prosecutors
Investigators discovered Facebook and Instagram accounts registered to Hess on Jan. 6, 2021.
As part of his plea agreement, Hess has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors by allowing “law enforcement agents to review any social media accounts operated by [Hess] for statements and postings in and around January 6, 2021,” and to submit to an interview by investigators “regarding the events in and around January 6, 2021 prior to sentencing.”
Other Lebanon Countians charged after Jan. 6
Hess is one of four Lebanon County residents to face Jan. 6 insurrection charges, and the third to plead guilty or be convicted at trial.
In September 2021, Myerstown resident Terry Brown pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor and was sentenced to 36 months of probation, with the first month on house arrest.
Leo Brent Bozell IV of Palmyra was found guilty of 10 felony counts after a non-jury trial last September. He is awaiting sentencing.
Joseph Fischer, a former North Cornwall Township police officer, has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial on various Jan. 6 charges. Some of the charges against him were dismissed by the U.S. District Court, but reinstated by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Fischer has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Appeals Court decision, but the nation’s highest court has yet to say whether it will grant his request.
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