CONCORD, N.H. — Federal prosecutors are recommending that a New Hampshire man who was arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol be sentenced to a month of home confinement and 60 hours of community service.
Thomas Gallagher, 62, of Bridgewater, pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a U.S. Capitol building. The Valley News reports as part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges, including remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and disorderly conduct in a U.S. Capitol building.
Gallagher faces sentencing on Oct. 13. According to sentencing memorandums filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., prosecutors note that he has no criminal record and appears to have stopped another person from throwing a chair inside the building.
According to the documents, Gallagher says he has felt “immense shame and anxiety” for entering the Capitol and is offering to pay $500 restitution. He also said he has no connections to far-right groups and began watching too much conservative news media during the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Gallagher’s conduct was “on the lower end of the spectrum of criminality” that day.
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