Southeastern MA man, former Boston police officer pleads guilty to assaulting law enforcement at U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — A Massachusetts man and former Boston Police Department Officer pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement assaulting a law enforcement officer and civil disorder, for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

According to the Washington D.C. Department of Justice, 52-year-old Joseph Robert Fisher of Plymouth, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to eight counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, and obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, and the misdemeanor offenses of: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, acts of physical violence the Capitol grounds or building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss will sentence Fisher on May 24, 2024.

According to court documents, Fisher entered the U.S. Capitol Building at approximately 2:24 P.M. on January 6, 2021 via the Senate Wing Door on the North side of the U.S. Capitol. At approximately 2:38 P.M., Fisher was in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Orientation Lobby where an altercation began between a U.S. Capitol Police Officer and other rioters. As a U.S. Capitol Police Officer pursued a rioter who had deployed pepper spray, Fisher pushed a chair into the Capitol Police Officer. Fisher then engaged in a physical altercation with the Capitol Police Officer. Shortly afterwards, Fisher exited the U.S. Capitol Building.

FBI arrested Fisher on March 30, 2023, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Boston Field Office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 36 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,265 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.