A convicted Capitol rioter from Westmoreland County who keeps smoking pot despite court orders not to will now have to participate in a drug treatment program under terms of his federal probation.
U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV on Friday ordered Samuel Fox, of Mount Pleasant, into treatment as approved by the U.S. probation office because he’s not been compliant.
Fox, 32, was sentenced in Washington, D.C., in the spring to three years of probation and two months of house arrest on his conviction of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Fox had entered the building with the Trump mob, spent a few minutes inside, took a selfie and left, later bragging that he would do it again.
As part of his sentence, the judge in D.C. ordered that he not use drugs.
But he has. The probation office said urine samples tested positive for marijuana on Aug. 3 and Oct. 17. He had previously tested positive on four other occasions as well and was cited for public drunkenness in July, according to the probation office.
In addition, the office said Fox hasn’t paid anything toward the money he owes the government. He was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine and restitution of $500 and was supposed to pay $100 a month toward those amounts. The owner of a moving company, he’s paid nothing.
The probation office asked for the drug treatment program, and the judge agreed.
Fox is among more than two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania charged with storming the Capitol in support of Donald Trump’s repeated lies that the election was stolen — lies Trump continues to repeat even as he runs for office again and faces potential criminal charges himself.
Fox already had received a break in avoiding jail. Although he pleaded to a misdemeanor, the U.S. attorney’s office had asked for a month in jail in part because Fox had “publicly celebrated” the attack and only said he was sorry when he realized he might go to jail.
Before the Trump rally on Jan. 6, 2021, Fox went on Facebook and said he hoped the president would start a civil war. He also said he was outraged that Americans were “ok with actual voter fraud.”
No evidence has emerged to support that contention, and even Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, has said publicly that the allegations of fraud were and are “bullshit.”
Fox said he entered the Capitol through a broken window and joined the mob because he knew it would be “big news” and he wanted to take pictures for his children.
He later posted about the insurrection on Facebook, telling “lefties” upset about the riot that their country “is sold to the CCP.” He also boasted to his Facebook audience, “I’d do it again, fight me.”
Fox additionally claimed that the mob had been allowed inside by police and that officers had killed five rioters. Both claims were false.
He wasn’t done lying, either.
He described the riot as a “walking tour” and said the only violence perpetrated came at the hands of a Black officer who murdered a white woman. Video, however, showed widespread violence by rioters in attacking police, and no Black officer killed a white woman or anyone else.
Fox’s boasts online were bolstered by his pals praising him as a patriot.
But in court, his lawyer painted a less robust picture of Fox. She said he suffers from low self-esteem because he’s short.
She said he’d been teased as a youngster and has a need to gain approval. Attacking the Capitol was a way to do that, she said.
She said he later expressed remorse and no longer believes he’s worthy of praise.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
