A Maryland resident has been sentenced to prison for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Adam Ryan Obest, aged 43 and from Thurmont, Maryland, received an 18-month prison sentence along with 36 months of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta delivered the sentence after Obest was found guilty of two felony charges: civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer, as well as several misdemeanors.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that Obest attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington D.C., on January 6 before heading to the U.S. Capitol building. Video footage from that day shows him holding a large American flag attached to a metal flagpole on the Lower West Terrace. At approximately 2:23 p.m., he approached police officers and was warned by one officer not to proceed further.
Obest later engaged in both verbal and physical confrontations with police officers at this location. He raised his flagpole above his head and brought it down toward a line of officers before another officer attempted to confiscate it. Additionally, Obest tried to take a baton from a Metropolitan Police Department Officer but eventually retreated into the crowd of rioters. Around 2:35 p.m., he threw a smoke grenade towards law enforcement after picking it up off the ground.
The FBI arrested Obest on June 13, 2023, in Maryland. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia alongside the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI's Baltimore Field Office and Washington Field Office which identified Obest as #422-AFO on its FBI Tip website. Additional support came from several agencies including HHS OIG, U.S. Capitol Police, and Metropolitan Police Department.
Since January 6, more than 1,572 individuals have faced charges across nearly all states related to crimes at the Capitol breach; over 590 were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers—a felony offense—as investigations continue.
Anyone with information can contact authorities via phone at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.