“Mob mentality is real, and I got caught up in it,” said Robert Sanford, who just caught a four-year prison sentence Tuesday for throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection. Sanford is a retired first responder who worked as a firefighter in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was arrested shortly after storming the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and is now telling the court he was duped into believing Donald Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy. Sanford’s attorney, Andrew Stewart, even said Sanford was attending “cult deprogramming” therapy and is deeply remorseful for his actions. “Even after he was incarcerated, he participated in regular discussions designed to challenge his ideology and belief structure,” Stewart said. These discussions, Steward argued, were to determine “why he developed the beliefs that led him to make the decisions that he did on Jan. 6.” Sanford has already spent about eight months in custody. He will serve three years of supervised release.
