Minnesota man who participated in Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol gets 6 months in prison

A Blue Earth man who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the nation’s capitol was sentenced to serve six months in prison followed by a year of supervised release.

Paul Orta Jr. must also pay $2,000 in restitution.

As previously reported, Orta turned himself in at the FBI field office in Minneapolis on Jan. 25, 2021, after seeing himself on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” website.

A criminal complaint filed in Washington, D.C., states that video from the Capitol showed Orta removing a barrier and encouraging people in the crowd to go forward. The complaint notes that he removed at least two sections of the barrier and threw them over a concrete wall, making it easier for the crowd to advance on the Capitol and harder for officers to regain control.

Orta is later seen in photos and video throwing “an unknown dark-colored object” toward police and then later pushing against a police line.