Former CFCC student sentenced to 4 years in DC ‘pizzagate’ incident

June 22, 2017

Associated Press,

WASHINGTON (AP) – A man who walked into a District of Columbia pizza restaurant with an assault rifle, intent on investigating internet rumors dubbed “pizzagate,”was sentenced to four years in prison.

Edgar Maddison Welch was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Washington. His attorney had asked that he be sentenced to 1½ years in prison. Prosecutors asked for 4½ years.

Welch acknowledged as part of a guilty plea in March that he entered the Comet Ping Pong restaurant Dec. 4 with an AR-15 assault weapon and a revolver. He also acknowledged driving to the restaurant from North Carolina to investigate a conspiracy theory about Democrats harboring child sex slaves there.

No one was physically injured, but the judge says Welch’s actions “literally left psychological wreckage.”