WASHINGTON – A South Florida man arrested last August — along with his wife — on charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol entered a guilty plea in Washington federal court Tuesday.
Bryan Roger Bishop, 51, of Marathon, is accused of assaulting two Washington Metropolitan Police Department officers with a “orange-colored chemical irritant” as he and other supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
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His wife, Tonya Bishop, 47, pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor charges of disorderly or disruptive conduct and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, court documents show.
Bryan Bishop, however, pleaded guilty to a felony: assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.
That crime carries an eight-year maximum sentence. Under the terms of his plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending he spend 51 to 63 months in prison.
He could additionally face a fine of $20,000 to $200,000.
Bishop, whom open-source websites dubbed the #UnderHelmetSprayer, was identified through photos posted online by the FBI and through a check of photos from driver’s licenses from Florida, Minnesota and Idaho, along with a passport application.
He called his August arrest at a Marathon marina “a little dramatic” when Local 10 News spoke to him following his August arrest. Both he and his wife were living aboard a boat off Marathon at the time of their arrests.
“They came in with a tactical team and drones and all kinds of s---,” he said.
Tonya Bishop, who authorities said called her imprisoned son on a recorded phone line and told him days before the attack, “On the sixth, Trump has called The Patriots together, a bunch of us are headed over there,” proclaimed her innocence, speaking alongside her husband in August.
“Maybe remind your viewers that we are still innocent and due process has not yet been served,” she said.
Tonya Bishop is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11; her husband is scheduled to learn his fate on Aug. 29, according to federal court records.
Since the attack, nearly 1,400 people have been arrested on Jan. 6-related charges.
Bryan Bishop plea agreement:
Tonya Bishop plea agreement: