North Carolina Man Behind ‘Pizzagate’ Sentenced To Four Years In Prison

CHARLOTTE, NC -- A North Carolina man who walked into a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant with an assault rifle and said he was there to investigate the “Pizzagate” internet conspiracy theory of a child sex ring operation has been sentenced to four years in prison.

Edgar Maddison Welch, of Salisbury, N.C., drove to Washington Dec. 4, 2016, and entered the Comet Ping Pong restaurant carrying an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun and told patrons he was there to investigate a claim -- widely debunked as an internet hoax -- that Democrats used the restaurant as a front for child sex slaves. Customers in the restaurant fled, and no one was injured in the incident, though Welch fired a couple of shots at a locked storage closet, CBS news reported.

His attorney had asked for his sentence to be limited to one year in jail, while prosecutors sought four years and argued that the sentence needed to be significant in order to deter other attempts of "vigilante justice,” The Washington Post reported June 22. “Beyond Pizzagate, the Internet is full of wild conspiracy theories where people urge members of the public . . . to take action,” U.S. attorneys Ahn and Sonali D. Patel said in a memo to the court, according to the report.

Prior to his sentencing June 22, Welch apologized to the court in a letter. In his letter, Welch said he realizes “just how foolish and reckless” his actions were, according to WTOP.

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