Santa Ana man sentenced to 54 months in prison for assaulting police during Jan. 6 Capitol breach

A judge on Friday sentenced an Orange County man to more than four years in prison for his actions during the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol. 

Jeffrey Scott Brown, 56-year-old resident of Santa Ana, was sentenced to 54 months in prison for a number of felonies and misdemeanors conducted during the chaos that occurred two years ago, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice. 

His charges include: 

• felony charge for assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon, 
• felony charge for interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder,
• entering and remaining in a restricted buildilng or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon,
• disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon,
• engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon,
• disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds or buildings,
• acts of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.

Brown, along with two other co-defendants in the trial — Peter J. Schwartz and Marksu Maly — were originally found guilty during trial on Dec. 7, 2022. 

According to the statement, the government provided evidence during the trial that showed Brown, Schwartz and Maly in the Lower West Terrace area of the Capitol Building, when Brown was given an "O.C. spray canister by Schwartz who had stolen it from an MPD duffle bag."

Brown reportedly struggled to make the pepper spray canister work as police attempted to hold off the large crowd, but was taught how to use it by Schwartz at which point "Brown then dove towards the front of the police line, spraying them with yet more OC spray."

The case was put together by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, using investigation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington and L.A. field offices. 

Over the last two years, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in almost all of the 50 states for crimes related to Jan. 6. 320 have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the statement.