Jan. 6 rioter 'ShieldGrampy,' who threw flagpole at officers 'as if it were a spear,' learns his fate

Anthony Mastanduno was sentenced to prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. (Photos from court documents)

A 61-year-old North Carolina man dubbed “ShieldGrampy,” who threw a flagpole at officers during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol “as if it were a spear,” has been sentenced to prison.

Anthony Mastanduno was sentenced to 57 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release . Mastanduno pleaded guilty to charges of civil disorder, trespassing, disorderly conduct, engaging in physical violence, assaulting officers and picketing in a Capitol building.

Mastanduno entered the Capitol around 2:17 p.m., minutes after rioters first breached the building. He went into the Crypt and to the front of a line of rioters who overwhelmed police before he left the building at 2:38 p.m., according to the statement of facts .

Mastanduno was at the front of a mob of rioters in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel when he picked up a blue flagpole-like object and threw it toward officers guarding the building. He then used an officer’s shield to push against police and used a baton to strike them at the mouth of the Tunnel. He backed away when police sprayed him with mace.

He was arrested on Aug. 23 in North Carolina .

Authorities first learned that he was at the Capitol while searching the cellphone of another Jan. 6 defendant in Colorado in February 2021, court documents said.

On that defendant’s phone was a photo of an unknown man in a camouflage jacket inside the Capitol building next to a bust of late Czech President Václav Havel, court documents said. The man in the cellphone photo was described as white, between 55 and 60 years old, with prominent ears, wearing a red baseball cap with a patch reading, “Trump 2020 Keep America Great!” Online sleuths gave him the hashtag “#ShieldGrampy” because of his apparent age and allegedly stolen weapon of choice that day.

The FBI found out where he worked through his Facebook page, and a co-worker verified his identity, court documents said.

Agents quickly learned his politics from his typo-laden Facebook posts.

“If Biden does get sworn in hope a rally can be formed to go to the capital that day of coarse with trump flags,” one read on Nov. 6, 2020, three days after the election.

In another post the following day, when Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election, Mastanduno wrote, “Biden has not won anything until the electors in December then and only then he will have won/stole I hated Obama and hated his politics but still considered him my president because he won honestly but Biden and future president within a year commiemia never!!! My Trump flag we fly high and proud in my front yard till 1/20/25[.]”

Prosecutors said he was involved in some of the worst violence on police at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel that day.

“Mastanduno not only witnessed violence inside the U.S. Capitol Building, but after exiting, he chose to remain on Capitol grounds, where he participated in a vicious, hours-long attack on police defending the tunnel,” prosecutors wrote in the government’s sentencing memo arguing for 72 months of incarceration.

One of the officers assaulted in the tunnel that day missed several weeks of work and used additional leave to recover, prosecutors wrote. The officer described the events as “horrific” and “life-changing.”

“Still today, once or twice per month, Officer T.C. has ‘memories of th[e] vicious event,’ resulting in difficulty sleeping and difficulty trusting others,” the June 20 memo said. “He considers January 6 to be ‘forever [his] [d]arkest day.'”

Mastanduno’s wife of 33 years wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, asking for leniency for the retired father of three. She said he is a devoted family man who “puts the needs of others before his own” and “never got in trouble with the law.”

She said he didn’t have an easy upbringing, grew up without a father figure and worked jobs at an early age to help his mother out with money before joining the Marines.

“Anthony has always instilled in our children truth and honesty,” she wrote. “He wanted to be the father figure that he never had and to be there for his children. He taught them to stand up for what is right and to never give up.”

She apologized for his actions on Jan. 6 and said her husband is “truly remorseful for it.”

“This was not his intent but he is an honest person and is accepting responsibility for what has happened,” she wrote. “Anthony has a lot of pride and by admitting to me he is sorry for what he has done takes a lot. I know this experience has made Anthony a better person and he will continue to do good.”

The post Jan. 6 rioter ‘ShieldGrampy,’ who threw flagpole at officers ‘as if it were a spear,’ learns his fate first appeared on Law & Crime .