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South Fayette man pleads guilty to assaulting police officers during Capitol riot

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Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice

Jorden Robert Mink, 29, of South Fayette, is shown breaking a window with a baseball bat while trying to enter the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.

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Courtesy of Allegheny County Jail

Jorden Robert Mink

The South Fayette man who wielded a baseball bat to smash windows at the U.S. Capitol and later used a large pole to repeatedly strike police officers protecting Congress during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty to his role in the attack.

Jorden Robert Mink, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two federal charges – assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and theft of government property – while appearing before U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in federal court in Washington, D.C.

Mink faces a sentence of 57 to 71 months in prison and at least a $20,000 fine, according to court documents. Mink is scheduled to be sentenced by Moss at 9 a.m. April 11, and he will be given credit for the 24 months he’s served in prison after his arrest two years ago this week.

Photographs and videos showed Mink using a baseball bat to break a window and enter the Capitol, where he began pulling out chairs and other furniture. A witness told investigators that Mink admitted to being at the Capitol during the riot and breaking the window.

According to a statement of offense that Mink signed acknowledging his actions, he also spit at officers and threw several objects at them, including a traffic cone and large stick. He later used a long pole to “violently and repeatedly strike” the police officers guarding a doorway at least five times, according to court documents.

As part of the plea deal prosecutors initially offered in October, Mink agreed to cooperate with federal investigators by giving them permission to interview him in the future and review his social media accounts and cellphone for messages and posts related to the Jan. 6 attack.

Unlike earlier proceedings involving Capitol rioters, courtroom audio of Mink’s plea hearing Tuesday was not available through teleconference. However, federal court records listed online confirmed his plea agreement and acknowledgement of his actions during the riot.

Federal investigators also said Mink posted on social media on Election Day in November 2020 a photograph showing him holding a semi-automatic rifle with an “I Voted” on it and a message playing off a quote by Abraham Lincoln.

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet. … Well, my magazines will be fully loaded just in case it’s not,” Mink allegedly said.

Another photograph posted on social media showed him at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., three days before the Jan. 6 riot.

Mink has been jailed without bond since his arrest in McKees Rocks on Jan. 19, 2021, less than two weeks after the assault on the Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump while trying to thwart Congress from certifying the election for President Joe Biden.

His Pittsburgh-based defense attorney, Komron Maknoon, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Holly Grosshans, who prosecuted the case, declined comment when reached by telephone Tuesday afternoon.

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