Indiana Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

Press Release

WASHINGTON - An Indiana man pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Troy Allen Koen, 54, of Brownsburg, Indiana, pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers before U.S. District Chief Judge James Boasberg. Chief Judge Boasberg will sentence Koen on Feb. 26, 2025.

According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Koen marched to the U.S. Capitol building and joined a group of rioters who attempted to violently push their way past law enforcement officers on the West Front of Capitol grounds. There, United States Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers had formed a line with bike rack barricades to prohibit rioters from further advancing. The crowd of rioters became increasingly agitated and aggressive at the police officers and, approached the bike rack barriers and attempted to pull them away. Rioters used various forms of weapons against the officers to break the police line.

Koen eventually made his way to the very front of the crowd of rioters on the northwest side of the West Plaza, approached the police line, grabbed a bike rack with both hands and aggressively yanked the barricade away from the police. A violent struggle ensued between police and the rioters as the two sides fought to gain control of the barrier; however, the rioters succeeded in removing the bike rack, creating a vulnerability in the police line.

After Koen and others removed the first barricade from the police line, Koen turned around, yelled to the crowd of rioters, and pointed at the police officers. Koen then reapproached the police line, lanced forward, and took hold of another police barricade. A second struggle ensued between the police officers and the rioters. Police officers used their physical strength, batons, and chemical irritants in an attempt to prevent the rioters from removing the barricade, but Koen and the rioters ultimately overpowered the officers.

As Koen and the others violently seized the second barricade from the police line and passed it back into the crowd of rioters, a police officer was knocked forward and dragged down onto the ground by a different rioter. Eventually, the mob successfully overpowered and overran the police line, and the officers quickly retreated to the Lower West Terrace and congregated in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day.

As officers retreated into the Tunnel while coughing, vomiting, and showing visible effects from the riot on the West Plaza, rioters-including Koen -ascended to the Lower West Terrace. Koen then approached the Tunnel holding a large, white pole with two flags attached. One flag read, "TRUMP 2020" and the other was a Confederate flag. Koen entered the Tunnel at approximately 2:41 p.m.

With the flagpole in hand, Koen made his way through the crowd and to the front of the pack of rioters. There, the rioters faced the closed double glass doors that served as a barrier to their entrance to the Capitol building. As one rioter then bashed the glass door with an unknown object in his hand, Koen, at the same time, lifted his flagpole above his shoulder and began to jab the flagpole into the glass. The glass door shattered as Koen continued to jab his flagpole through it, which allowed the rioters to reach through the broken glass and open the door.

Koen then disassembled the flagpole into two separate pieces.

After the glass was broken and doors opened, rioters immediately started to push against the police officer line. Officers inside the Tunnel yelled, "HOLD THE LINE!" as the onslaught continued. Koen remained at the forefront of the group and quickly started to use two flagpoles to jab the flagpoles into the officers repeatedly. As officers held their ground, rioters continued to attack, using their collective body weight to push against the police line, strike police with batons and flag poles, and spray chemical irritants into the Tunnel. While this occurred, Koen remained at the forefront of the mob of rioters.

Koen exited the Tunnel at about 2:47 p.m. without his flagpoles in hand.

The FBI arrested Koen on Nov. 9, 2023, in Indianapolis.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana.

This case is being investigated by the FBI's Indianapolis and Washington Field Offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 45 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,532 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 571 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Updated November 1, 2024