Douglas Austin Jensen, Capitol Breach, District of Columbia 2023

An Iowa man has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021.

Douglas Austin Jensen, 43, of Des Moines, Iowa, was found guilty by a jury in September of five felonies, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding a law enforcement officer; obstruction of an official proceeding; interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon. He also was found guilty of the misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

According to the government’s evidence at trial, Jensen illegally entered the U.S. Capitol grounds at approximately 2 p.m. on January 6, 2021. He wore a distinctive black shirt with a large “Q” emblazoned on the chest, and he carried a knife with a three-inch blade inside his pocket.

Jensen scaled a wall on the West Front of the Capitol, watched as a mob broke the windows and doors at the Senate Wing entrance, and was the tenth person inside the Capitol Building. Once inside, Jensen encountered Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. Jensen repeatedly disobeyed Officer Goodman’s commands to back up and to leave the building. Jensen ultimately led a mob of rioters in a menacing pursuit of Officer Goodman up the East Grand Staircase, just steps away from the Senate Chamber.

Jensen was arrested on January 8, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to the prison term, Jensen was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and complete three years of supervised release.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the FBI’s Omaha Field Office, and the FBI’s Des Moines Resident Agency, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 23 months since January 6, 2021, close to 900 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 265 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

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