Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 52
- Location
- Lake St. Louis, Missouri
- Charges
- Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
When reporters from a St. Louis television station asked Paul Westover in mid-January if he was a man seen in videos from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, he said he was “not going to say anything about that” and hung up, according to a criminal complaint. Ten days later, FBI agents say, a distinctive yellow hat featuring the St. Louis Blues’ hockey team logo helped them identify Westover as one of the rioters waving a broken fragment of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nameplate in the videos. Facebook provided video to the FBI from Westover’s deactivated account. The video was allegedly filmed by Westover as he breached police barricades with the crowd and charged past retreating officers, according to the complaint. Westover is president and founder of Search Ingenuity, a technological staffing company, according to screenshots from his company’s now-deactivated website. His biography describes Westover as a “huge family person” who “strives to run a firm that focuses on integrity and will never be one to compromise his own for a deal.”
Case History
Westover pleaded Guilty to the charge. Sentenced on 4/11/2022 to 45 days incarceration; $10 Special Assessment, and Restitution of $500. Westover 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.