A U.S. Marine reservist from Cranberry has decided he doesn’t want a trial on charges of breaching the U.S. Capitol with the Trump mob and instead intends to admit to what he did.
Jorden Bonenberger, 27, is charged with misdemeanor offenses related to the 2021 insurrection and had been set for trial for April before Judge John Bates in the District of Columbia.
But on Wednesday he indicated that he’ll enter a plea on April 28.
Bonenberger is charged with entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct on restricted grounds and in the Capitol and demonstrating in the Capitol.
His co-defendant, Melanie Lanham, 43, of Shaler, previously pleaded guilty and Judge Bates gave her probation and community service.
The pair are among some two dozen people from Western Pennsylvania charged in the Capitol attack.
They drove together to D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021, for the Trump rally and then entered the Capitol together, where they were captured on video among the rioters swarming the building in support of then-President Donald Trump’s lies.
Pittsburgh FBI identified Bonenberger, who joined the Marines in 2019, through witnesses a few days later. Agents called him to set up an interview for Feb. 3, 2021, but when they showed up he declined to talk to them. They tried again later that summer, but he refused again.
Agents also received numerous tips that Lanham, previously known as Melanie Archer, was the woman seen with him. She also refused to be interviewed at first.
At her plea and sentencing, however, she admitted that she was inside the Capitol for 13 minutes and took a bunch of selfies, including one near then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. She claimed she had penetrated the building so deeply because she had to go to the bathroom and couldn’t find one.
Prosecutors didn’t buy that story and asked for 30 days in jail, but she and her lawyer said she didn’t hurt anyone or break anything, unlike many other rioters. The judge cut her a break and gave her 18 months of probation.
Lanham told the FBI that she and Bonenberger had become separated in the throng, but that he had contacted her to say people were being let into the Capitol. She met up with him and they entered, walking around and taking photos.
She told the judge that she got caught up in events but did not intend on rioting. The judge said her crime did not warrant prison time.
He is likely to make a similar finding for Bonenberger.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
