An El Paso man convicted of assaulting a federal police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack by former President Donald Trump supporters will serve his federal prison sentence just outside of El Paso at La Tuna federal prison in Anthony, Texas, court record show.
David Rene Arredondo, 48, will serve his two-year-and-nine-month prison sentence at FCI La Tuna, a low-level correctional institution in Anthony, Texas, federal court records show.
U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Arredondo has not been booked into La Tuna as of Tuesday, Aug. 20. Court records do not state when he must self-surrender to prison officials.
Multiple attempts to reach Arredondo and his attorneys for comment have been unsuccessful.
La Tuna is located in El Paso County and houses 759 male inmates — 630 inmates at the FCI La Tuna prison and another 129 at an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.
Arredondo lands plea agreement
Arredondo pleaded guilty to eight federal charges Jan. 3 as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Arredondo on Aug. 8 in Washington, D.C.
The charges he pleaded guilty to and the sentences he received on each count are:
- Civil disorder; 2 years and 9 months in federal prison
- Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; 2 years and 9 months in federal prison
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; 1 year in federal prison
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; 1 year in federal prison
- Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; 1 year in federal prison
- Disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; 6 months in federal prison
- Act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings; 6 months in federal prison
- Parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building; 6 months in federal prison
The sentences are being served concurrently. There is no parole in the federal criminal justice system.
He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release after he serves his prison term. Arredondo was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution for damages caused during the riot.
Arredondo’s role in Jan. 6 attack
Arredondo was part of a group of people who left El Paso Jan. 4, 2021, to travel to Washington D.C. for a rally for former President Donald Trump. He is seen in surveillance videos Jan. 6 around the U.S. Capitol building wearing a red Trump “Make America Great Again” cap, sunglasses and a gaiter, a complaint affidavit states.
He joined a mob of Trump-supporters that stormed the Capitol seeking to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
During the riot, Arredondo pushed a bike rack fence against Capitol police officers who were trying to keep the mob from entering a plaza outside the Capitol, U.S. Attorney’s Office officials said.
Arredondo is seen in videos “making physical contact with a police officer trying to stop rioters from entering the Capitol doors,” the affidavit states.
He is seen grabbing the arm of a police officer who was surrounded by a mob of rioters. Another police officer in the Capitol building is seen in the video being pulled away by the mob and falling to the ground.
Arredondo is “seen grabbing the arm of the other police officer who is trying to keep a door to the Capitol shut, and attempting to pull the officer away from the door in an apparent effort to facilitate the entry of other rioters into the Capitol,” the affidavit states.
Capitol surveillance footage and other videos show Arredondo inside the Capitol for under 40 minutes, the affidavit states. Arredondo and other rioters chanted as they walked around the Capitol, a sentencing memorandum filed in federal court states.
More:El Paso man sentenced to prison for role in Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot by Trump supporters
After a nearly two-year investigation, Arredondo was arrested by FBI El Paso agents Oct. 26, 2022, in connection with the riot at his home in the 1200 block of Morgan Marie Street near Rojas Drive and Joe Battle Boulevard in far East El Paso.
Arredondo is the only El Pasoan arrested in connection with the riot, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office database of the riot arrests.
Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
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