A Portland man who pleaded guilty to charges tied to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will spend 30 days in a federal prison.

A federal judge announced the sentence on Thursday, three months after Michael Gerard Fournier, 46, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and parading in a restricted area. He also was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution. He faced up to six months in prison on each charge.

Michael Gerard Fournier Image taken from court documents

Prosecutors dropped two other charges as part of a plea deal in which Fournier agreed to pay $500 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol, which maintains the Capitol grounds.

Fournier wasn’t arrested until three years after the riot, but authorities had known about his involvement. He admitted he was among the hundreds of people who forced their way into the U.S. Capitol building, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed after his January arrest.

The affidavit included photos from security footage that showed Fournier entering the building while wearing a red bucket hat. As he climbed the Capitol Rotunda steps, he chanted “this is our House” with his fist raised. He used his cellphone to record what was happening inside and at one point was seen holding a painting that another rioter handed him.

Fournier’s attorney, John Pierce, asked the judge to sentence his client to a year of probation with no fines or restitution. In a sentencing memorandum, he described Fournier as a “renowned outdoorsman, hiker and naturalist” who has hiked the Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Pacific Coast Trail. Pierce said prosecutors tricked Fournier into a plea deal on favorable terms, then recommended the maximum sentence for a first-time offender.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of six months in prison for the disorderly conduct charge and 36 months of probation for parading in a restricted area. They acknowledged that Fournier cooperated with the FBI and may have prevented another rioter from stealing a painting, but said those acts “cannot excuse his contribution to the violence of the day.”

Fournier “joined the violence” by throwing a flagpole at officers, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.

The judge recommended Fournier be held at a medium security federal correctional institute in Berlin, New Hampshire.