DOJ seeks 6 years in prison for man who robbed Officer Fanone of badge, radio

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors say a New York man should serve nearly six years in prison for robbing former DC Police Officer Mike Fanone of his badge and radio while he was being assaulted by other rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Thomas Sibick, 37, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty in March to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer and two counts of robbery. He faces an advisory sentencing guideline range of 57-71 months at his sentencing hearing scheduled Friday morning.  

In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall described Sibick’s behavior on Jan. 6 as “unquestionably cruel.” After Fanone was grabbed and dragged out of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel – and while other rioters were restraining him, beating him and pressing a stun gun into his neck – Sibick reached in and robbed him of his badge and radio. Paschall said Sibick later falsely told the FBI he’d tried to use the radio to call for other officers to help Fanone. Fanone lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack as a result of the assault and had since left the force.

Prior to the assault on Fanone, Sibick had posed for a picture with a police riot shield dropped by an officer and had made his way to the front lines of a mob that was trying to push past police in the tunnel. While on the west side of the Capitol, he recorded himself on video narrating his efforts to push forward.

“Just got tear-gassed, but we’re going, baby, we’re going! We’re pushing forward now!” he said at one point.

After Jan. 6, Sibick gave the FBI multiple versions of events – claiming at first he had only watched the assault on Fanone from a distance. Sibick also claimed he had thrown Fanone’s badge and radio into a dumpster at a hotel, but later admitted he had buried the badge in his backyard. Investigators eventually recovered the badge, although the radio has never been found.

The government’s sentencing request is in line with what the presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson, has given other rioters involved in the assault on Fanone. In October, she sentenced Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee construction worker who grabbed Fanone and dragged him out of the tunnel, to seven-and-a-half years in prison. Kyle Young, an Iowa man who helped restrain Fanone, was sentenced to seven years in prison a month earlier. Last month, Jackson sentenced Daniel Rodriguez – the California man who repeatedly pressed a stun gun into the base of Fanone’s neck – to 12.5 years in prison. As he was led out of the courtroom following his sentencing, Rodriguez yelled emphatically, “Trump won!”

Sibick’s attorney, Stephen Brennwald, has taken pains to try to distance his client from other rioters – particularly Rodriguez, who he claimed in his own memo had already assaulted Fanone before Sibick took his badge and radio. Brennwald won Sibick’s release from the D.C. Jail in October 2021 after claiming he’d voluntarily asked for solitary confinement in order to get away from what he described as the “toxic” and radicalizing presence of other Jan. 6 defendants.

Brennwald also said on Jan. 6 Sibick had been improperly prescribed Adderall, which can cause mania in individuals like Sibick who have bipolar disorder. He argued in his memo a period of home confinement to be followed by supervised release – accounting for the eights months Sibick already served in pretrial detention – would be adequate for his offense. Brennwald also said Sibick’s conduct was much less violent than the other defendants who attacked Fanone.

“These individuals, as the Statement of Offense references, ‘tased, kicked, punched, pushed, grabbed, and hit [the officer] with objects…’” Brennwald wrote. “As a result, and quite fairly, they received lengthy prison sentences. Mr. Sibick did none of those things.”

Sibick was scheduled to be sentenced by Jackson at 10 a.m. Friday morning.