Four from southern Illinois are among those Trump pardoned in Jan. 6 Capitol riots
At least four people from southern Illinois were pardoned by President Donald Trump Monday for their roles in the riots inside and around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Three of the men had pleaded guilty to felony charges, including assaulting a U.S. Capitol Police officer, while another pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for entering the Capitol building.
Trump, who was sworn into office Monday, had promised he would pardon the rioters, but there “may be some exceptions to it.” Vice President J.D. Vance had said in interviews that he favored some pardons, but believed those who acted violently should not.
On Monday, hours after being sworn in under the Capitol Rotunda granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people who had been charged, including commuting the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia, some of which had been convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy.
More than 600 people “charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony,” according to the Department of Justice.
“Those people have suffered long and hard,” Trump told NBC News last month. “And there may be some exceptions to it. I have to look. But, you know, if somebody was radical, crazy.”
According to federal court records, at least four people from southern Illinois were included:
Shane Jason Woods, 47, Auburn
Woods pleaded guilty to felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers and striking, beating, or wounding a person. He was given a 4.5-year prison sentence. He is being held in the Sangamon County Jail as he faces an unrelated state murder charge.
Woods admitted to knocking down a female U.S. Capital Police officer who was pursuing a suspect who had sprayed the officer with “a chemical irritant at point-blank range and then ran away,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Woods outweighed the officer by over 100 pounds.
The next day, the officer said she felt as if she had been “hit by a truck.”
Woods also admitted to striking and knocking down a media photographer about two hours after he hit the police officer.
Woods’ attorney could not be reached for comment.
Woods later was charged with first-degree murder in Sangamon County, where he was arrested in connection with the death of a 35-year-old woman who died when a vehicle going the wrong way on Interstate 55 crashed into her vehicle in November 2022.
Woods, who had pleaded guilty to the Jan. 6 charges in September 2022, had made suicidal comments to a state trooper before he fled a traffic stop and ended up driving the wrong way, according to media reports of the traffic fatality.
Justin LaGesse, 37, and Theodore Middendorf, 36, McLeansboro
LaGesse and Middendorf, who are listed as co-defendants in court records, have admitted to using flag poles to damage a window at the U.S. Capitol.
The Architect of the Capitol later determined that the cost of the damage to the window was $41,315.
LaGesse was ordered to pay restitution of $43,315 for the damaged window.
LaGesse pleaded guilty to a felony of destruction of government property. He was given an 11-month prison sentence on Jan. 10 and was ordered to surrender to authorities by March 1. Middendorf pleaded guilty to a felony charge of destruction of government property and is awaiting sentencing.
Attorneys for LaGesse and Middendorf could not be reached for comment.
Jeremiah Carollo, 48, Glen Carbon
Carollo pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capital building. He was given a 21-day prison sentence and has served this time.
He lost his job as an an airport baggage worker after he was arrested, according to his defense attorney, Heather Shaner of Washington, D.C.
Carollo entered the Capitol with his brother and cousin and walked through the building. They were not violent and did not damage anything, Shaner said.
“They were very embarrassed,” Shaner said. “They had a great deal of remorse and shame.”
While Shaner opposes pardons for the rioters, she said if Trump follows through on the promise, someone like Carollo could benefit from it since he is among the “least culpable.”
Shaner said Carollo, who has landed a new job, has researched the country’s electoral system and watched the U.S. House of Representatives committee hearings regarding Jan. 6. He now realizes that the 2020 election was not stolen from Trump, Shaner said.
“He did a lot of reading to self-educate himself to make sure he’d never be bamboozled again,” Shaner said.
This story was originally published January 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
