Bethesda man charged in Jan. 6 insurrection sentenced to 28 months in prison

Steven Cook hit, pushed and “bull-rushed” police officers at Capitol

July 19, 2024 8:49 p.m.

A 25-year-old Bethesda man was sentenced to 28 months in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia.

Steven Patrick Cook was charged with “two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, which are both felonies,” according to a March press release. Cook pleaded guilty to the charges In March.

Alexis Gardner, Cook’s attorney, did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s request for comment Friday afternoon.

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The FBI arrested Cook on Sept. 16, 2023, in Maryland. Authorities did not specify where the arrest occurred. He was identified in the crowd of rioters “in body-worn camera footage and open-source videos and photos, including ones that he posted on his social media accounts,” according to court documents and reporting from MoCo360.

Cook is one of six known Montgomery County residents who participated in the insurrection and have been arrested or sentenced.

In addition to time in prison, Cook was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

According to the release, Cook “joined the violent mob as they invaded the Capitol,” which delayed the certification of the electoral college vote for the 2020 presidential election. Congress was working to certify Joe Biden’s victory when rioters–who were attending a rally in support of then-President Donald Trump earlier in the day–breached the Capitol.

“Hundreds and hundreds of people were entering the Capitol with Confederate battle flags, chanting, ‘We want Trump’ and ‘Hang Mike Pence,’ and they’d come in without going through the metal detectors, they’d come in without any security screening at all,” U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist. 8) of Takoma Park said in a previous interview with MoCo360

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While Cook was on the grounds of the Capitol, he walked on the West Plaza to the Lower West Terrace and later entered the Lower West Tunnel, “the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement,” the release stated.

In the West Plaza, Cook pushed a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer, then grabbed the officer’s baton and punched a different police officer, according to the release.

“Cook continued his assault on police in the Lower West Tunnel, where he confronted more officers protecting an entrance to the Capitol building. Cook returned to the Tunnel three different times and spent over an hour assaulting officers in this area,” the release stated.

In the tunnel, Cook aided an attack on officers “by passing a pole to other rioters.” He then left the tunnel and returned shortly after, took a gas mask from another rioter to put on his face and “bull-rushed” officers, according to the release. He then grabbed another officer’s baton, removed his own gas mask and pushed himself into officers in an attempt to break the police line.

Cook left and returned to the tunnel a second time and continued to push against police “in unison with other rioters,” the release said.

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According to the release, more than 1,470 individuals in nearly all 50 states have been charged for crimes related to the insurrection, which took place more than three years ago. More than 530 individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement–which is a felony–and the investigation remains ongoing.

The U.S. attorney’s office asks that anyone with tips about those involved in the insurrection to call 800-225-5324 or visit tips.fbi.gov.

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