Ridgefield Man In Capitol Breach Sentenced to 7.5 Years In Prison

RIDGEFIELD, CT — A Ridgefield man was sentenced Friday to serve 90 months in prison for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.

Patrick E. McCaughey III, 25, was found guilty following a bench trial, on Sept. 13, 2022, along with co-defendants Tristan Chandler Stevens, 26, of Pensacola, Florida, and David Mehaffie, 63, of Kettering, Ohio, who are awaiting sentencing.

McCaughey was convicted of seven felony charges: three counts of aiding or abetting or assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, including one involving a dangerous weapon; one count of obstruction of an official proceeding; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. The two misdemeanor charges include disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building and committing an act of violence in the Capitol Building or grounds.

In addition to the prison term, the Washington, D.C. court ordered 36 months of supervised release and restitution of $2,000.

According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, McCaughey, Stevens, and Mehaffie all traveled to Washington, D.C. from their respective homes. Each illegally made his way on to the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol. McCaughey and Stevens taunted officers at the West Front, and Mehaffie yelled at nearby rioters who were hesitating to illegally cross the outer perimeter, “if we can’t fight over this wall, we can’t win this battle!”

The three defendants ultimately broke through the police line after approximately 2:30 p.m., when the line on the West Front failed under the siege of the advancing mob. Each of the defendants scaled the Southwest scaffolding and staircase, to converge together at the tunnel created by the inaugural platform structure on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building.

At the Lower West Terrace, officers of the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department guarded the entrance door to the Capitol from the mob — including McCaughey, Stevens and Mehaffie — for several hours. Between 2:41 p.m. and 3:19 p.m., the three defendants attempted to break into the building by directing other rioters, participating in heave-hos against the police line, using riot shields stolen from the Capitol Police, and assaulting three specific officers. Mehaffie hung from an archway and shouted direction from above, and McCaughey and Stevens were key players in the melee below. McCaughey grabbed a riot shield and used it as a weapon. Even after officers finally cleared the tunnel area, the three defendants illegally remained on Capitol grounds.

McCaughey was arrested on Jan. 19, 2021, in South Salem, New York.