Kriti Mehrotra
It was reportedly back when Mexican-born Ronald “Ronnie” Sandlin was a mere toddler who was adopted by a working-class couple from across the border, meaning he grew up in the US. In fact, his primary base was Las Vegas, Nevada, for the longest time, that is, until he relocated to Millington, Tennessee, to seemingly expand his Internet Marketing career around the late 2010s. However, his world soon turned upside down through no one’s fault but his own as he stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, under the belief there was voter fraud in the presidential election.
According to reports, Ronnie had made use of social media platforms like Facebook to kind of publicize the riot/attack in the preceding days by referring to it as a “boogaloo,” which is quite militial. Moreover, he’d brought gas/face masks, protective gear, a Glock pistol, a pocket pistol, a few small knives, a slingshot, a taser, an expandable baton, walkie-talkies, and cans of bear mace to DC. This later made officials believe he had no intention of being a particularly peaceful protester, especially once it got combined with the fact he’d actually trespassed into the Capitol at 2:35 pm.
It was here that Ronnie pushed against officers guarding the Rotunda door to let others in and explicitly shouted, “You’re going to die, get out of the way,” before later “grabbing” one’s helmet. As if that’s not enough, per formal documents, he’d incited the mob to prevent Capitol police from locking the Senate Gallery doors, walked through it, as well as smoked marijuana in the Rotunda. Then he stole a book from a Senate-side office’s desk to keep as a “souvenir” and removed an oil painting from the wall, but the latter got left behind while he was exiting at approximately 3:16 pm.
Ronnie Sandlin is Currently Serving a 5¼-Year Sentence
35-year-old Ronnie was actually arrested outside of fellow insurrectionist Nathaniel “Nate” DeGrave’s apartment near the Las Vegas Strip on January 29, 2021 — three weeks after the baffling riot. He was subsequently denied bail, only to threaten prison personnel with a chair, claim he was working on a Netflix deal to sell his original footage, and insist on having met right-winger Dinesh D’Souza to discuss his actions with podcaster Joe Rogan while awaiting trial. Though in the end, on September 30, 2022, he pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers, plus conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, for which he received 63 months and a $20,000 fine. What’s more, he already owes $500,000 in unpaid taxes.
Therefore, today, at nearly 37, Ronnie is incarcerated at the minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution Forrest City Low in Arkansas, where he will likely remain until at least June 28, 2025. Yet, it’s imperative to note that despite his willing criminal actions rightly leading him to detainment, he was henceforth cruelly, mentally punished by being placed in solitary confinement for a year. “I’m in a tiny cell the size of an elevator for 23 hours a day,” he candidly said in HBO’s ‘The Insurrectionist Next Door’ documentary. “All the inmates here are told by all the [corrctions officers] that we’re the most dangerous men in the world right now. It’s only Jan Sixes… We’re called The Patriot Wing.”
Ronnie also conceded, “I did things I’m not proud of, and I’m willing to do time for them… I’m not a huge pro-Trump guy right now. I should not have walked into the Capitol that day. I don’t know what compelled me other than the mob mentality.” He later expressed genuine remorse regarding what went down on the fateful day too, stating he has since learned the facts and “can’t believe I used to be one of these people. It has made me feel terrible, just terrible. I [asked these fellow rioters in prison with me], ‘Aren’t you guys ashamed of what you’re doing? Aren’t you guys ashamed of what happened that day and your actions? I am. Of course, they didn’t want to hear it, so I’m the most hated person in this unit now… They’re calling me hateful, racist things.”
