Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Location
- Placentia, California
- Charges
- Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full
Case Summary
According to federal court documents, Shawn Schaefer and an unnamed associate purchased walkie-talkies with "a lot of bells and whistles" for their trip to Washington, D.C., for the Stop The Steal rally. A few minutes before 3 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Schaefer was seen on closed-circuit television entering the U.S. Capitol building through the Senate Fire Door, pulling up a mask over part of his face as he entered. Schaefer was in the building for only around two minutes, and later told a federal investigator in an interview that he left the building after thinking "people could get in trouble for this." He was arrested on Jan. 17, 2024.
Case History
Schaefer pleaded Guilty to both charges. Sentencing reset for 1/30/2025. On 1/24/2025, the court grants the government’s motion to dismiss the case with prejudice
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.