Mark Ponder biography: 10 things about US Capitol riot suspect from Northwest, Washington, D.C.

Mark K. Ponder is an African-American man from Washington, D.C., United States. Here are 10 more things about him:

1. He is a resident of Northwest, Washington, D.C. _(a)
2. He was convicted of domestic assault before he was convicted in 2007 of robbing a taxi driver and a PNC bank. He was was sentenced to 37 months in prison after admitting to forcing a driver and a passenger out of a taxi and stealing the vehicle and entering a PNC bank where he demanded money and walking out with $2,469. _(b)
3. He believed that the 2020 U.S. presidential election result was fraudulent so he was frustrated that 85th U.S. attorney general William Barr and the U.S. Supreme Court did not step in to investigate. _(c)
4. Wearing an unzipped green jacket with the hood over his head, a beige sweater, blue jeans and black shoes, he went to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. That day, Donald Trump supporters breached the building while a joint session of Congress was certifying the vote of the Electoral College and affirming Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election. During the riot, he used a long thin pole to beat a Metropolitan Police Department officer. He was detained but the arrest was not completed due to the chaotic nature of the day. _(d)
5. A Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent filed a criminal complaint against him, which was signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey on March 12, 2021. _(d)
6. On March 17, 2021, FBI agents arrested him at his apartment in Northwest. For his participation in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, he was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, obstruction of justice/Congress and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon. _(a)(d)
7. On July 12, 2021, he rejected a plea offer from the U.S. government. _(b)
8. On April 22, 2022, he pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to one felony count of assaulting police with a dangerous weapon. He remained in custody at the Alexandria Jail in Alexandria, Virginia, USA while awaiting sentencing. _(e)
9. On July 26, 2022, Chutkan sentenced him to 63 months in prison and required him to pay $2,000 in restitution. _(f)
10. Represented by Joseph R. Conte, he was 56 years old when he was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison on July 26, 2022. _(f)

(This is a developing story. More details are being added.)

If you have information about someone who participated in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, call 1-800-CALL-FBI. You may also submit relevant photos and videos to the FBI.

_SOURCES:

• _{a. WUSA9}
• _{b. WUSA9}
• _{c. Newsweek}
• _{d. U.S. Department of Justice}
• _{e. WUSA9}
• _{f. Law and Crime}