One-time CT mayoral candidate pleads guilty to entering U.S. Capitol during Jan. 6 riot

Derby builder and one-time mayoral candidate Gene DiGiovanni pleaded guilty Friday to illegally entering the U.S. Capital on Jan. 6, 2021 when supporters of ex-President Donald Trump stormed the building during a joint session of Congress that was held to certify the 2020 presidential election.

DiGiovanni, who faces up to six months in prison and a small fine under the terms of his plea bargain with federal prosecutors, was in the building for a matter of minutes and is not accused of violence or of causing any damage.

A sentencing date was not immediately available.

DiGiovanni, 42, was arrested in August after being identified by so-called civilian sleuths, who pored over thousands of hours of amateur video recording of the riot. The online investigators tipped off the NBC news affiliate in West Hartford, which confronted DiGiovanni at a meeting of the Derby Board of Alderman, according to an FBI affidavit, DiGiovanni’s lawyer and others.

He told investigators he had traveled to Washington to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.

Afterwards, he walked down the National Mall to the Capitol with people referred to by prosecutors as “other rioters.” The Capitol building had been barricaded and closed to the public because then-Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over the vote certification.

DiGiovanni is accused of ignoring the barricades and walking past gangs of rioters chanting “take it back.” He entered the building through the Upper West Terrace door and strolled through the Rotunda and Statuary Hall before leaving. He was wearing a jacket with the name of his construction company.

The FBI affidavit filed in connection with DiGiovanni’s arrest asserts that the bureau began an investigation after being alerted by the television report.

“Following NBC Connecticut’s identification of DiGiovanni as an individual believed to have entered the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, the FBI identified additional video and images appearing to show DiGiovanni inside the Capitol Building,” the affidavit said. “Both open source photographs and videos and Capitol Building close circuit television (“CCTV”) footage depict DiGiovanni on the Capitol Building grounds and entering the Capitol Building itself.”

Further investigation showed that DiGiovanni’s cellphone was inside the Capitol during the riot and additional video recordings show him “circumventing permanent and temporary security barriers manned by U.S. Capitol Police and unlawfully entering the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021,” the document said.

DiGiovanni was elected to the Derby Board of Alderman after the Capitol riot. He won a Republican primary in his attempt to be elected Mayor, but lost the election in November.

DiGiovanni and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.