Left: Ray Epps is seen talking with accused Jan. 6 rioter and Proud Boys member Ryan Samsel near the Peace Circle monument (via FBI court filing). Right: Epps is seen talking to another person in the crowd outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 (via police body camera footage/YouTube CBS News screengrab).
The Donald Trump supporter who had encouraged a raucous crowd to go to the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 and was later targeted by a right-wing conspiracy theory that he was a federal plant will not serve any time behind bars.
Ray Epps, 62, was sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation for participating in the riot at the Capitol, in which hordes of Trump supporters angry over Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win overwhelmed law enforcement and violently forced their way into the building as Congress was certifying the results, as required by the U.S. Constitution.
“Defendant sentenced to twelve (12) months Probation, a $25 Special Assessment, and Restitution totaling $500,” the docket read Tuesday following Epps’ sentencing before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee. The docket noted that Epps appeared via Zoom and was not present in the courtroom.
Boasberg did not place any travel restrictions on Epps, The Associated Press reported. The sentence reflected what Epps and his lawyer had requested, and rejected the federal government’s argument that he deserved six months of jail time.
Originally from Arizona, Epps has said that he and his wife were forced to sell their property and business and flee their home after facing threats to their safety over the so-called “false flag” theory that accuses Epps of being an agent of the federal government. They now reportedly live in a trailer in the woods.
Boasberg reportedly expressed sympathy for the man’s situation.
“You were hounded out of your home,” the judge said, according to The Associated Press. “You were hounded out of your town.”
Boasberg reportedly said that he hoped the threats against Epps and his wife would subside. For his part, Epps said that he shouldn’t have believed what he saw on Fox News, including false statements that the election was stolen from Trump. Epps has blamed Fox and former host Tucker Carlson — from whom he sought an apology — and has since filed a defamation lawsuit against the network.
“I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust,” he said, according to AP.
Epps was seen in Washington on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 participating in various pro-Trump activities, including attending the so-called “Stop the Steal” rally that proceeded the march on the Capitol building. At one point, he was seen talking with accused Proud Boys member Ryan Samsel, who was part of the charge at the area known as the Peace Circle that resulted in at least one police officer suffering a head injury.
The fact that he wasn’t arrested shortly after the riot — and that he was removed from the FBI’s Most Wanted list after reaching out to federal investigators himself — gave rise to the theory that Epps was a federal plant, sent to rile up the pro-Trump crowd and lead them into a “false flag” operation.
He pleaded guilty in September to a single count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Meanwhile, in the same courthouse, Trump himself was present before three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia as his lawyers argued that immunity shields the former president from criminal liability for alleged efforts to subvert the election results. Under this legal theory, anything that prosecutors allege occurred while Trump was commander-in-chief was part of his official duties to ensure “election integrity.”
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