Married Ocala couple plead guilty to Jan. 6 crimes

The U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as protesters breached the building. [File photo]

A married couple from Ocala, the last two Marion County residents to be charged with crimes relating to the 2021 Capitol riot, pleaded guilty to their crimes on Monday, according to the Department of Justice.

Jamie and Jennifer Buteau, 50 and 46, are two of six people from Marion County who were arrested for their involvement in the riot, when a mob of protestors forcefully entered the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Jamie Buteau pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, which is a felony. His wife, Jennifer Buteau, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, which is a misdemeanor, according to the DOJ.

On the day of Jan. 6, the Buteaus were captured on video surveillance entering the Capitol building at about 2:25 p.m. through a broken door in the Senate Wing, according to United States District Court documents for the District of Columbia.

About five minutes later, Jamie Buteau threw a chair at Capitol police officers who were retreating from the rioters. He was captured on CCTV carrying the chair, then pulling his arm back to throw the chair, then the chair is seen on video bouncing off a wall and striking an officer, according to court documents.

The pair were partly identified to the FBI by a tipster who recognized the pair from an HBO documentary titled “QAnon: Into the Storm,” where both Jamie and Jennifer Buteau appeared on camera and identified themselves.

An anonymous tipster who said they were a family member of Jennifer Buteau testified that she was involved with QAnon, saying that Buteau had been interviewed on the news as a QAnon member before, according to court documents.

The four other Marion County residents involved in the riot have either already been sentenced or have entered pleas and are awaiting sentencing.

Kelly Meggs, a 54-year-old from Dunnellon, was the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, a far-right anti-government militia group. Meggs was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy, according to the DOJ. His wife, Connie Meggs, 60, was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, plus two other felonies. She is awaiting sentencing.