LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — In the three years since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S Capitol, two men with Las Vegas ties have been imprisoned, one is awaiting a trial and one is awaiting sentencing.
The man deemed the “Spider Nazi,” who climbed on the exterior of the U.S. Capitol building and then went inside through a broken window most-recently pleaded guilty.
After his arrest in December 2022, Brandon Dillard, 40, of Las Vegas, initially faced charges of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building, documents said.
In November, Dillard agreed to plead guilty to a charge of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, documents said. The charge faces a prison sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.
In January 2021, a person uploaded a 90-minute video of the insurrection to an FBI database, documents said. The video includes a person, wearing a spider web-hooded sweatshirt, climbing down an exterior Capitol wall. The same person then entered the Capitol building through a broken window, documents said.
Online comments gave the person seen climbing on the building the moniker “#SpiderNazi,” documents said.
Investigators reviewed more videos, finding the same man in videos with his face exposed, they said. The FBI then compared the man in the video to Dillard’s Nevada driver’s license photo, finding “a strong resemblance,” they wrote in court documents. The FBI also obtained data from Dillard’s phone carrier, which showed his phone in the area of the Capitol on Jan. 6, they said.
Travel records also showed Dillard traveled from Las Vegas to the Washington Area on Jan. 5 and returned to Las Vegas on Jan. 8.
Two other men with Las Vegas ties were already serving prison sentences for their roles on Jan. 6.
Ronald “Ronnie” Sandlin, who was living in Las Vegas, began serving a 63-month prison sentence in December 2022. Nathaniel “Nate” DeGrave, also of Las Vegas, started his sentence last summer.
On the day of the riot, DeGrave, Sandlin, and a third man, Josiah Colt, of Idaho, met in a hotel room in Maryland and later entered the Capitol. Prosecutors said DeGrave assaulted at least two U.S. Capitol Police officers and was armed with bear spray, according to documents.
The 8 News Now Investigators interviewed both DeGrave and Sandlin from jail in 2021. Inside the Capitol, Sandlin attempted to rip off an officer’s helmet before reaching the U.S. Senate Chamber. While leaving the building, Sandlin took an oil painting off a wall before leaving it behind, prosecutors said.
Sandlin was also seen on video smoking weed inside the building. He is heard on the video saying, “People are smoking weed in here. Thank you, patriot. We made history in here,” according to court documents.
In the months after Jan. 6, DeGrave raised more than $120,000 where he called himself “a political prisoner,” prosecutors said.
Last March, the FBI arrested Bradley Nelson, a North Las Vegas truck driver, for allegedly entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and then tweeting about it, saying in part, “I was in the capital [sic]… and all hell broke loose,” documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained said.
Nelson, who the FBI said is a commercial truck driver, drove his truck from southern Nevada to Washington, D.C. in January 2021, and parked it at an inspection station, they said.
The FBI later identified Nelson from his Nevada driver’s license and videos of the insurrection. Federal investigators also said Nelson’s cell phone was in the area, including inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Nelson has pleaded not guilty and remained out of custody pending trial.
Last April, a judge sentenced a fifth man, Josiah Kenyon, of Winnemucca, to six years in prison for his involvement. Kenyon attacked officers and caused more than $40,000 in damage.
Kenyon was seen in and around the building wearing a “Nightmare Before Christmas” Jack Skellington costume, documents said. While outside the building, he tried to break a window with his fist before using a flagpole to hit it.
A judge scheduled Dillard’s sentencing for Feb. 8. He remained out of custody.
Seven people died in the riot or in the immediate days after, including an officer for the Capitol police, the Jan. 6 committee found.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the department’s investigations into the former president and the lead-up to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The FBI has arrested more 1,200 people for crimes related to Jan. 6, the department said. More than 450 people face charges of assaulting or impeding law enforcement. As of Friday, the longest Jan. 6-related sentence a judge has imposed is 14 years for a man who threw a chair at a line of officers. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.
