Jan. 6 rioter from Kannapolis, who wore a red skull cap, convicted of attacking police

Ryan Oehrli

A federal jury on Thursday found a Kannapolis man guilty of attacking police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Brett Alan Rotella, 35, is awaiting sentencing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

FBI search warrants say that Rotella followed retreating police officers into a tunnel, busted a locked door’s glass pane to get through it, handed a ladder to a mob that they used against police and directed that mob, among other things.

He would hold up his fist and yell, “Hold!” to get the group behind him to stop, and he would count down with his fingers to signal when it was time for a big shove, the records say.

“We just want things to be right,” he said at one point, according to court documents. “Something has to happen or we’re all f—ed!”

When Rotella left his house in July 2023 and went to a nearby Aldi, FBI agents tracked him and compared his tattoos in person to pictures from Jan. 6. A judge approved an extensive search warrant. They arrested him shortly after.

The Washington, D.C. jury found him guilty of several crimes Thursday:

  • Felony obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder.

  • Two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.

  • Misdemeanor entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

  • Misdemeanor disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.

  • Misdemeanor impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings.

U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss will sentence him in December.

Members of the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack found that former president Donald Trump provoked his supporters to violence through his false allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.

Federal prosecutors have been handling Jan. 6 cases. More than 1,500 people have been charged in nearly every state for crimes related to the breach at the Capitol. The investigation is ongoing, according to the Department of Justice.

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