- An ex-Houston cop was sentenced to 45 days in jail for participating in the January 6 Capitol riot.
- Tam Dinh Pham worked as a Houston patrol officer for 18 years, the Houston Chronicle reported.
- Pham pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol building.
A former Houston cop was reportedly sentenced on Thursday to 45 days in jail for participating in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Tam Dinh Pham, who worked as a Houston Police Department patrol officer for 18 years, was handed down the sentence by US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly in Washington, DC, the Houston Chronicle reported.
"Your role was very minor on that day," Kelly said as he sentenced Pham, according to the news outlet. "On the other hand, without people like you, the collective force of the mob would not have been the same."
The judge, according to WUSA9 reporter Eric Flack, strongly considered giving Pham a sentence of probation, but said that Pham violated his sworn duties to uphold the constitution.
Pham pleaded guilty in September to parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol building.
Prosecutors said in court documents that Pham attended a speech given by former President Donald Trump near the White House on January 6 and afterwards followed others to the US Capitol.
Pham entered the Capitol at around 2:30 p.m. that day and took photos and videos of himself while inside, the documents say.
At one point, he posed for a photo in front of a bronze statue of former President Gerald Ford that had a flag placed in its arms that read: "Trump – 2020 – No More B---shit," the court papers said.