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Ryan Swoope

Pardoned January 6 defendant

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**Ryan Swoope** is a Perry, Ohio man — Lake County, right on the shore of Lake Erie east of Cleveland, a village of a couple thousand people. He was in his mid-twenties on January 6, 2021, and he is one of the few January 6 defendants who sat down with a local news crew afterward and talked about it on camera. **His story.** That took something. In 2025, as the pardon question was still open, Ryan Swoope gave News 5 Cleveland an interview reflecting on his role that day (FACT — News 5 Cleveland, "Pardon or no pardon? Northeast Ohioan reflects on role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot"). Most people in his position hide. He answered questions from a reporter in his own community, on the record, with his own name attached. He is a northeast Ohio guy from a small lakeshore township, not a national figure. He was inside the Capitol roughly nine minutes on January 6, entering the Senate Wing Door around 3:08 p.m. with two others from Perry. The felony count against him concerned a chemical irritant sprayed near an open door on the north side of the building; a Capitol Police sergeant reported coughing and watering eyes. No firearm. No knife. No club. Nobody was hospitalized. He pleaded guilty in October rather than going to trial (FACT — DOJ record and Ohio press). **Where the fight stands.** Swoope was sentenced to 51 months, two years of supervised release and a $2,000 fine — more than four years for a single afternoon. The presidential clemency proclamation of January 20, 2025 covered January 6 convictions, and the J6 pardon closed out his federal case. Ryan Swoope is home in Lake County, Ohio. He is one of the January 6 defendants who was willing to speak to his own hometown press about it, and that is worth something in a story where almost everybody else was spoken about instead of speaking. **Case record.** United States District Court for the District of Columbia, case No. 1:22-mj-251 (later indicted). Complaint filed November 14, 2022. Arrested November 30, 2022. Charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder (both felonies) plus related misdemeanors. Pleaded guilty to felony assault. Sentenced to 51 months incarceration, 24 months supervised release, $2,000 fine. DOJ record: justice.gov/usao-dc/defendants/swoope-ryan. (NEEDS AUTHENTICATION: plea and sentencing dates should be confirmed against the docket.) Search terms people use to find him: Ryan Swoope January 6, Perry Ohio January 6 defendant, Lake County Ohio J6 pardon, pardoned January 6 Cleveland area, J6 political prisoner Ohio. This profile is unclaimed. If this is you — or your family — claiming it is free, forever.