Oath Keepers founder with Las Vegas ties gets sentence commuted
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a former Las Vegan whose organization was involved in the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff, was among the defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol who were pardoned or whose sentences were commuted by President Donald Trump in his first day in office.
Rhodes, who served in the Army and graduated summa cum laude from UNLV in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, had his 18-year prison sentence commuted to time served as of Jan. 20, according to the White House website.
Rhodes was released hours after Trump signed the clemency order. He had been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes.
Trump also pardoned more than 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants involved in the attack that threatened the peaceful transfer of power after Joe Biden won the 2020 election. The investigation was the largest in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bundy standoff
The Jan. 6 case was not Rhodes’ first conflict with the federal government.
During the Bundy standoff in Bunkerville, which was intended to prevent a roundup of cattle that federal officials said were grazing on government land, Rhodes said his organization had 35,000 members, including many current and former military and law enforcement personnel, who were readying themselves for a conflict with government.
Rhodes and his members fled the scene because of rumors that then-President Barack Obama’s administration would launch a drone attack.
Rhodes and attorneys listed for him could not be reached for comment.
Other Jan. 6 defendants
Besides the commutatations he issued, Trump granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” according to the White House.
At least six other Jan. 6 defendants besides Rhodes had ties to Nevada.
Citing Trump’s executive order pardoning Jan. 6 defendants or commuting their sentences, federal prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss a pending indictment against Mario Gonzalez, a Las Vegan accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees and committing violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Gonzalez was arrested in January 2024. Prosecutors previously said he filmed himself during an altercation with police and sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers, who deployed a “chemical riot control agent” against him.
“He’s overjoyed,” said defense attorney Robert Draskovich, who described Gonzalez as deeply religious and a devoted family man.
He added: “He’s very happy and ready to put his life back together.”
Prosecutors filed a similar motion to dismiss in the case of Bradley Nelson, a North Las Vegan who posted on social media about being in the Capitol Rotunda during the riot. Nelson was jailed while awaiting trial after he was accused of making threats against Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other officials.
He had prior drug and theft convictions and pleaded guilty in October to disorderly conduct counts, according to federal court records.
His federal public defender, Michelle Peterson, said she would not have any comment. Nelson could not be reached for comment.
Las Vegas business owner Brandon Dillard was also accused in connection with the attack. Authorities alleged he climbed down a wall and entered a Senate meeting room.
In 2023, Dillard pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds. He was sentenced to four months in prison with credit for time served.
He and his lead attorney could not be reached for comment.
Las Vegas resident Nathaniel DeGrave and Ronald Sandlin of Tennessee were arrested in connection with the riot in 2021, near DeGrave’s Las Vegas apartment. Court records alleged that they and Josiah Colt of Idaho drove to Washington together to participate in the attack.
Prosecutors alleged they wore tactical gear and carried bear spray.
DeGrave admitted to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding in June 2022. He was sentenced to three years in prison in May 2023.
Sandlin, who recorded himself smoking marijuana in the Capitol Rotunda, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced to more than five years in prison in December 2022.
DeGrave, Sandlin and their attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Josiah Kenyon of Winnemucca was also sentenced to prison time for the attack. He was accused of trying to break a window, throwing things at police and hitting officers with a table leg while wearing a “Jack Skellington” costume from the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
He pleaded guilty to assaulting an officer and was sentenced to six years in prison in 2023.
His attorney did not respond to a request for comment. Kenyon was not listed in public records.
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.