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Rafael Rondon

Pardoned January 6 defendant

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Rafael Rondon is a North Country New York man who went to Washington on January 6 with his mother. Not a militia. Not a cell. His mom. They were inside the Capitol together for under twenty minutes, and they were charged together. FACT, court record. Then he did something almost nobody in this whole archive did. He sat down with a local television station and talked, on the record, with his name and his face. He told WWNY that the people he met that day were kind to him. THEIR ACCOUNT, WWNY 7 News, August 2023. He did not hide. THE LEGAL FIGHT A criminal complaint was filed on September 2, 2021. Rondon was arrested in Syracuse, New York on October 1, 2021. FACT, court record. He was released on personal recognizance and stayed out. FACT. He was charged with seven counts. On December 5, 2022 he pleaded guilty to one, obstruction of an official proceeding. The remaining six counts were dismissed. FACT, docket. On December 14, 2023 he was sentenced to five years of probation, a $100 special assessment and $2,000 restitution. No prison time. FACT, court record. On January 20, 2025 a Presidential proclamation granted a full, complete and unconditional pardon for offenses relating to events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. DOCUMENTED INFERENCE as applied to Rafael Rondon, pending a pardon certificate confirmation. WHAT THE ALLEGATION ACTUALLY SAID The government alleged he touched a laptop in a conference room. Touched. That is the word in the record. Headlines called it stealing the Speaker laptop. The charge he pleaded to was obstruction, not theft, and the theft count was dismissed. FACT, docket. Read the docket, not the headline. WHAT THIS DOES NOT PROVE It does not prove Rafael Rondon stole anything. That count went away. CASE RECORD Name: Rafael Rondon. Home: Watertown and Syracuse, New York. Case number: 1:21-cr-722. Court: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Complaint September 2, 2021. Arrested October 1, 2021. Pleaded guilty December 5, 2022. Sentenced December 14, 2023. DOJ defendant page and North Country news coverage are linked on this profile. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you, or your family, claiming it is free, forever.