Kansas man who represented ‘the American Dream’ sentenced for role in Capitol riot
Apologizing to all “who have been hurt by my actions,” Mark Roger Rebegila asked a federal judge on Wednesday not to send him to jail for breaching the Capitol twice on Jan. 6.
After he spoke, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced the St. Marys, Kansas, father of four to 30 days of home detention, two years’ probation, a $2,000 fine and 60 hours of community service.
“His total time there contributed to the overall chaos and mayhem that existed that day,” Mehta said at the sentencing hearing, held via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “His mere presence there served as encouragement to others.
“What happened that day was unprecedented .... everybody who was on those grounds, everybody who entered that building made history that day, and not in a good way. And it’s something that cannot be repeated ever again.”
Rebegila also is required to pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building, which prosecutors say totaled about $1.5 million.
Before learning his sentence, he said, “I do take full responsibility for my actions that day. ... And I’ll never be caught up in this situation again.”
Rebegila, 32, faced a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty on Dec. 1 to parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor. The government recommended a sentence of 60 days in jail followed by three years of probation and $500 restitution.
The government’s sentencing memorandum filed with the court last week said that Rebegila and others from St. Marys had traveled together to D.C. to protest Congress’ certification of the Electoral College.
Rebegila breached the Capitol twice, prosecutors said, despite being forced out the first time by law enforcement officers. While inside, the government said, he entered two offices, including that of the Senate parliamentarian, where he “witnessed its destruction, and despite that and seeing broken glass on the floor, he attempted to move deeper into the Capitol, not out.”
“Even after being expelled a second time, an hour later he was still filming videos while declaring on behalf of the rioters, on behalf of those seeking to occupy the Capitol and disrupt the peaceful transition of power, ‘The final stand here! They’re about to push us all out! I’m getting pushed. Ope, flash bang!’”
Rebegila “initially bragged about his illegal breach of the Capitol to friends, claiming that he sat in a lawmaker’s chair and stole a bottle of liquor,” the government said, “and admitted that he later deleted evidence of his criminal conduct ‘because he did not want to get in trouble.’”
A court document added that “at this time, the government does not possess evidence that shows the defendant sitting in a lawmaker’s chair or stealing a bottle of liquor” and that Rebegila had since denied doing those things.
While there was no evidence that Rebegila had been involved in any violence or property destruction during the siege, the government said, a jail sentence was warranted.
“But for his actions alongside so many others, the riot likely would have failed,” it said. “Here, Rebegila participated in a riot that succeeded in halting the Congressional certification. That, his multiple entries into the Capitol, and his forays into offices in that building renders a split sentence of sixty days incarceration followed by a three-year term of probation both necessary and appropriate in this case.”
Rebegila’s attorney, David Benowitz, said in a sentencing document filed April 13 that Rebegila first entered the Capitol through an open door, not a broken window like other rioters, and was inside for about six minutes. He entered again about 30 minutes later through a different door, Benowitz said, and stayed for about three minutes.
“He had a brief, peaceful interaction with a law enforcement officer, and otherwise kept to himself,” Benowitz wrote. “He made no attempt to incite the crowd or taunt law enforcement officers.”
Benowitz said Rebegila “is a humble, hardworking, law-abiding family man” with no criminal history.
“As the son of immigrants who fled the repression of the Soviet Union in the 1980s,” he wrote, “Mr. Rebegila in many ways represents the American Dream.”
Several friends and co-workers sent letters to the judge in support of Rebegila.
“I think Roger got a little carried away with what I consider to be an almost cultish mania about our former President,” wrote Charles Baylor, a longtime family friend who asked Mehta “to be as lenient as possible” in considering Rebegila’s sentence.
“...I can’t believe he ever wanted to do anything more than express his support for his favored candidate.”
Rebegila expressed regret for his behavior in a letter to the judge.
“I take full responsibility for my actions on January 6th, 2021, and I apologize for anything I did that day that may have led to a further divide of this great country,” he wrote.
Rebegila said he was the first from his village in Romania to be born in the United States and was proud to be a U.S. citizen. He attended St. Mary’s Academy, a private Catholic school in northeast Kansas operated by the Society of St. Pius X, a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group. After high school, he went to work for The Onyx Collection in nearby Belvue, a manufacturer of bathroom fixtures, and is now in a manager position there. Married for 12 years, he said, he has four children with a fifth due in September.
Rebegila told the judge that he loves the outdoors and has climbed several 14,000-foot mountains in Colorado. Once his “ordeal” is over, he said, he hopes to climb Mount Rainier in Washington state and possibly Mount Denali in Alaska.
“My love for adventure may have been the reason I ventured to D.C. on that cold dark day in January,” he said. “From everything I’ve learned, I will focus my energy on climbing mountains and staying out of restricted buildings.”
Rebegila is the third of eight Kansas residents charged in the Capitol riot case to be sentenced. Two Leavenworth women who traveled together to Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Jennifer Ruth Parks was sentenced Dec. 28 and Esther Schwemmer on Jan. 10, each to two years’ probation, 60 hours of community service and $500 in restitution.
The cases of five other Kansas residents — Michael Eckerman, of Wichita; William Pope, of Topeka; and Proud Boys William Chrestman, Christopher Kuehne and Ryan Ashlock of Johnson County — are winding their way through federal court.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 12:25 PM.
