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SHERIDAN, IL — A former National Guardsman from LaSalle County pleaded guilty to assaulting an officer Jan. 6, 2021, during the riots at the U.S. Capitol, according to authorities.
Joseph Bierbrodt, 55, of Sheridan, pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting an officer and obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder, both felonies, authorities said.
Bierbrodt and his brother, William Bierbrodt, attended the Stop the Steal rally Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., then made their way to the Capitol, where William Bierbrodt used his cane to smash the window of the locked Parliamentarian Door, allowing Joseph Bierbrodt to enter, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Joseph Bierbrodt immediately grabbed a U.S. Capitol Police officer by the torso, pushed the officer into a wall, spun the officer around and shoved the officer into the arms of a rioter, authorities said. He then encountered a line of police restricting his access further into the building, according to the department, which said that after he left the building he stayed on the Capitol grounds for nearly three hours.
Joseph Bierbrodt was honored with an award in 2018 when he was a first sergeant for the Illinois National Guard after he took a young girl whose father had died in a military training accident to a father-daughter dance.
He was arrested July 26, 2023, in Sheridan by the FBI and is set to be sentenced Feb. 3, according to the department.
More than 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, nearly 600 of whom have been charged with assaulting or impeding police, authorities said.