2 active-duty Marines plead guilty to Jan. 6 charges

Two Marines pleaded guilty Monday to charges related to the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol after it was revealed they participated in the insurrection while on active duty.

Joshua Abate and Dodge Dale Hellonen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol, according to the Justice Department (DOJ). 

A third marine, Micah Coomer, was charged alongside Abate and Hellonen and pleaded guilty to the same charge in May. He was the first active duty military service member to be convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes.

The men worked in communications and signals intelligence, according to The Intercept.

At the time of the riot, the Marines worked together at the Marine Corps Information Operations Center in Quantico, Va. Abate and Hellonen received promotions in the service after Jan. 6. 

Abate and Hellonen will be sentenced in September and Coomer in August. They each could face a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment.

The three men were caught on video inside the Capitol during the riot, according to charging documents. Coomer posted photos from inside the Capitol Building on Instagram, saying he was, “Glad to be [a part] of history.”

Coomer messaged another user on Instagram claiming he believed the 2020 election was fraudulent and that he was waiting for a “Civil war 2.”

Abate disclosed during a military security clearance interview last year that he and two “buddies” entered the Capitol Rotunda during the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to the DOJ.

The three men were identified using their military IDs and phone records. They were still members of the Marines on active duty as of May.