Man who threw fire extinguisher at officers on Jan. 6 sentenced to 52 months in prison

A Pennsylvania man who threw a fire extinguisher at police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.

Robert Sanford, 57, was sentenced to 52 months behind bars, followed by 36 months of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in September to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

According to the Justice Department, Sanford — who is a retired firefighter — was on Capitol grounds that day as part of a group on the Lower West Terrace, where he threw a fire extinguisher at a group of Capitol Police officers and struck three of them in the head. He also threw a traffic cone aimed at the officers and yelled that they were “traitors,” according to the department.

Sanford was arrested on Jan. 14, 2021, just a little over a week after the attacks on the Capitol, after he turned himself in to authorities.

Federal prosecutors initially wanted a prison sentence of up to 71 months — almost five years — for Sanford.

Prosecutors said in their sentencing memo that one of the officers sustained swelling and a bump on their head after being hit with the fire extinguisher, while another got a medical examination from a hospital but did not report further injuries.

Sanford’s attorney, Andrew Stewart, argued in his memo that the retired firefighter should only be sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison followed by 12 months of at-home confinement, which would then be followed by a three-year term of supervised release. He also argued that the victims hit by the fire extinguisher did not sustain “significant” enough injuries to warrant a sentencing enhancement for causing bodily injury.

Stewart also noted that Sanford has been working with an individual who specializes in “cult deprogramming” to help him understand why his beliefs led him to the actions he took on Jan. 6. He also claimed that his client is “deeply sorry” for his actions in the memo, which was filed earlier this month.

“During this process, Mr. Sanford was confronted with facts about the “stolen election” conspiracy theory among others and how psychological manipulation is used to indoctrinate the followers of a conspiracy,” Stewart wrote in the memo. “Mr. Sanford learned how mental health problems, whether diagnosed or not, cause isolation which, when paired with belief in a conspiracy, gradually cause more isolation.”