New Jersey gym owner first person to plead guilty to assaulting police officer, faces prison

A New Jersey gym owner on Friday became the first person to plead guilty to assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and now faces several years in prison. 

The plea was part of a deal between federal prosecutors and owner Scott Kevin Fairlamb that suggests how dozens of other similar cases related to rioters clashing with police will be handled, according to the Associated Press.

Fairlamb’s attorney said prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of 3.5 to 4.5 years. However, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth is not bound by the terms of the plea agreement.

Lambert has set a sentencing date of Sept. 27.

The Justice Department says roughly 140 police officers were assaulted when rioters attempted to disrupt or stop members of Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election in which Democrat Joe Bide defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump. 

Five officers who were at the Capitol that day have died, four of them by suicide. 

Fairlamb, 44, a former mixed martial arts fighter whose brother is a U.S. Secret Service agent, was one of the very first rioters to breach the Capitol said the prosecutors, the wire service also reports.