Jan. 6 rioter nicknamed 'shield grampy' admits assaulting officers at the Capitol
Anthony Mastanduno, a Jan. 6 rioter nicknamed "Shield Grampy," has pleaded guilty to nine counts including assaulting officers during the Capitol attack.
WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter online sleuths nicknamed "Shield Grampy" has admitted that he used a stolen police shield during the brutal battle at the lower west tunnel of the U.S. Capitol and assaulted officers with a flagpole-like object and a baton.
Anthony Mastanduno pleaded guilty to nine counts Wednesday and was ordered taken into custody by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who set his sentencing for June 27. Mastanduno, 61, was arrested in August, with an FBI affidavit noting that online "sedition hunters" had given him his nickname "due to his age and his use of a stolen police shield to assault MPD [Washington police] officers at the entrance to the tunnel."
Mastanduno previously lived in Farmingdale, New York, and now lives in North Carolina.
According to an agreed-upon court filing, he "was wearing a red baseball cap with a patch on the bill and 'Trump 2020 Keep America Great!' embroidered in white thread, a camouflage jacket, and a backpack" on Jan. 6, 2021, and also, at times, "donned large, clear goggles with a blast elastic strap." He entered the Capitol about four minutes after it was first breached by a massive pack of rioters led by Michael Sparks, who jumped through a window smashed in by Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola.
Mastanduno admitted he "was at the front of a line of rioters who overwhelmed police officers in the Crypt" and then joined the mob outside the Capitol by the lower west terrace, where some of the most brutal violence of the day took place. Mastanduno admitted that he "picked up and threw a blue, flagpole-like object into the mouth of the tunnel, as if throwing a javelin or spear toward the line of outnumbered police officers who were defending the Capitol against the mass of rioters."
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