Another failed Massachusetts putschist found guilty as part of the mob that broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6

A federal judge in Washington, DC this week convicted the owner of a Fall River market on four counts - one a felony - for throwing a flagpole topper at police and using a bullhorn to encourage other insurrectionists inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, after first videoing himself exclaiming that he'd like to "grab Nancy Pelosi by the hair and fucking twirl her around."

Michael St. Pierre, 46, of Swansea, and owner of the Family Foods Grocery Outlet - which he closed in August, 2021 - asked for a trial before a judge rather than a jury. US District Court Judge Jia Cobb found St. Pierre guilty of the felony offense of civil disorder and three misdemeanor charges: Destruction of government property, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and committing an act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds, the US Attorney's office in Washington reports.

Cobb set sentencing for March 14.

According to the US Attorney's office:

On Jan. 6, 2021, St. Pierre arrived at the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C., wearing a body armor vest and carrying a megaphone. St. Pierre approached the west side of the Capitol grounds and recorded a video on his phone, which was later posted to his Facebook page. In the video, St. Pierre pointed the camera at the Capitol building and said, “That’s where the meeting ground is. Hopefully they bust through, and I’ll join them, to rush the Capitol and go grab Nancy Pelosi by the hair and fuckining twirl her around.”

St. Pierre traveled across the west front and climbed on top of a wall of the exterior façade of the West Plaza next to the Northwest stairs. While there, he yelled through his megaphone as the packed crowd filled the steps next to him and the Plaza below. St. Pierre then made his way to the Upper West Terrace and eventually arrived at the North Doors on the northern exterior wall of the Capitol building.

Here, while the Metropolitan and Capitol Police Officers were outside the North Doors attempting to prevent the crowd from entering the Capitol building, St. Pierre waved the crowd forward towards the Capitol and the outnumbered officers and then pushed on the backs of other rioters who were directly battling with police. While St. Pierre pushed, rioters in front of him sprayed bear spray and used flag poles as clubs and spears against the police officers. Eventually, the crowd charged the officers, and the officers retreated inside of the Capitol building. St. Pierre joined the crowd chasing the officers and cheered on the attack through his megaphone.

While rioters continued to battle police outside the North Doors, St. Pierre attempted to incite the crowd through his megaphone, saying, “Come on everybody, let’s go everybody, we got to get everybody tight. We got to get tight! Let’s go guys! We are going to storm this bitch!” At one point, while police attempted to deploy fire extinguisher smoke to clear the area of rioters, St. Pierre threw a metal flagpole top at one of the glass windows in the door while officers were directly behind the doors.

St. Pierre was not arrested until July of last year.