Long Island Man Swung Water Bottle At Police During Capitol Riot: Plea

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Farmingdale man on Friday pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in addition to other felony charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Greg Rubenacker, 26, pleaded guilty to all 10 counts of an indictment returned in the District of Columbia, including charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, obstructing an official proceeding, and committing an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.

After entering the Capitol Building through the Senate Wing door at 2:13 p.m., Jan. 6, and recording a video in which he said, "This is history! We took the Capitol," Rubenacker engaged in a series of confrontations with law enforcement inside the Capitol, prosecutors said.

Rubenacker was part of a crowd yelling “where are they counting the votes” that was re-directed by a U.S. Capitol police officer attempting to secure the area, officials said. Rubenacker left the building at 2:21 p.m. but returned 21 minutes later through the Rotunda door, according to his plea. While in the Rotunda, he smoked marijuana and recorded another video that he later posted to a social media website with the caption, “Smoke out the Capitol, baby,” prosecutors said.

Rubenacker and others resisted officers who were attempting to remove people from the Rotunda, and, at 3:08 p.m., he swung a plastic water bottle at an officer’s head, according to his guilty plea. He then sprayed water from his bottle across law enforcement officers engaging with other people, authorities said.

Officers pepper-sprayed the crowd, including Rubenacker, who exited the Capitol at 3:20 p.m., according to prosecutors' timeline.

Rubenacker was arrested on Feb. 9, 2021, in Farmingdale.

He is set to be sentenced on May 13. He faces up to 20 years in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding, up to eight years for assaulting law enforcement officers, and additional time for the other offenses. He may also face fines. A federal district court judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Rubenacker is one of at least 725 people to be arrested from nearly all 50 states in connection with the breach of the U.S. Capitol, according to the Department of Justice. More than 225 people, including Rubenacker, were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. More than 165 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges, including 22 to felony offenses.