Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Location
- Rio Hondo, Texas
- Charges
- Civil Disorder
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
On January 5, 2021, a privately owned school bus was pulled over in Washington, D.C. and searched by Metropolitan Police Department officers, according to court documents. Among the seven people aboard the bus was Paul Orta, Jr. Inside, police discovered multiple firearms and different calibers of ammunition, and arrested the driver and owner of the bus -- but let Orta go. Orta was subsequently identified in open-source and body-camera video footage as present on the grounds of the Capitol building the following day, Jan. 6, at one point telling a camera operator, "We're taking that shit today!" Federal agents allege that Orta then dismantled metal barriers used by police for crowd control, and later pushed barriers into officers in an attempt to breach their line. Court documents do not allege that Orta entered the Capitol building that day, and Orta voluntarily visited an FBI field office a few weeks later, saying that "he wanted to do the right thing."
Case History
Orta pleaded Guilty to the charge. Sentenced on 10/7/2024 to 6 months incarceration; 12 months Supervised Release; $100 Special Assessment;. $2,000 in restitution . Orta received a full pardon on January 20, 2025
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.