David Ball of Wells seen outside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo via court documents

A Sanford man was sentenced to two years of probation for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

David Ball Jr., who spent about 20 minutes inside the building during the riot, pleaded guilty in October to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Ball to 24 months of probation and ordered him to pay a $500 fine and $500 in restitution.

David Ball Jr. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation.  Photo via court documents

After reaching a plea deal with federal prosecutors last year, three other charges against Ball were dropped. He faced up to six months in prison and five years of probation.

Ball, the owner of Broken Glass Co. in Wells, is one of eight Mainers who have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The riot began after former President Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and urged the crowd at his “Stop the Steal” rally to fight to overturn the election.

The FBI began investigating Ball in February 2021 after receiving an anonymous tip that he had been in the Capitol during the attack, according to an affidavit. In the following months, a second tipster and a confidential informant provided photos of a man wearing a black “Broken Glass Company” sweatshirt both inside and outside the building.

Ball also was seen in photos and surveillance video walking through the crypt area of the Capitol for about 20 minutes. He was not accused of engaging in violence toward police officers.

The sentence handed down this week by Judge John D. Bates was less than the 36 months of probation and 21 days of intermittent confinement requested by prosecutors.

In a sentencing memorandum, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said that Ball was closely behind the rioters who first breached the building minutes before and followed the same path they did, “a route replete with violence against police officers and other clear indications of the crowd’s unauthorized, destructive presence on Capitol grounds.”

He then joined a welling crowd in the crypt that grew hostile and confrontational toward police officers, Graves said.

Graves wrote that Ball “downplayed his culpability for his conduct on multiple occasions” and “has shown a troubling inability or unwillingness to appreciate the seriousness and wrongfulness” of his conduct.

On Nov. 17, 2023, Ball wrote on the social media site X, “I will be sentenced on January 9th for raising my hand and saying USA on that day in the capital building.” The next day, he wrote that he was arrested “for going in the building, through open doors, not knowing what had happened before I got there,” Graves said.

In court filings, Ball’s attorneys, David Benowitz and Rammy Barbari, requested he receive a short probation that would be terminated after paying a fine and completing community service. They said he was compliant during the 10 months of pretrial release and does not have a criminal history. They also argued that a long probation “would significantly hinder” his plans to become a registered Maine Guide.

“He is a family man who is actively involved in his children’s lives and he treats his employees with respect and decency. Those who know him best describe his actions on Jan. 6 as an aberration and ‘mistake’ in an otherwise good man’s life,” his attorneys said.

In a letter to the judge, Ball, 38, said “sorry” does not begin to describe how he feels about entering the Capitol building. He described going to Washington to see the president speak and the “constant feeling of shame” he has experienced since Jan. 6. He said he has received death threats.

“I wanted to see the most powerful man in the world and amazing city where the country I am proud of was formed,” he wrote. “I never had any intention of being part of something that was so damaging to not only us as a nation, but also on the world stage.”