‘DEEPLY SORRY’

Ray Epps, Jan. 6 Rioter Targeted by Conspiracy Theorists, Gets Probation

Ray Epps was accused of being a government agent sent to stoke violence at the U.S. Capitol, a falsehood that was inflamed by Fox News.

An Arizona man who participated in the Jan. 6 riot and subsequently became the target of right-wing conspiracy theorists was sentenced on Tuesday to a year of probation over his role in the Capitol attacks, rather than the six months behind bars that prosecutors had requested.

Ray Epps, 62, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count in September.

“I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust,” the former Trump supporter said on Tuesday, having written in a letter to the judge that he was “deeply sorry.”

Epps, who turned himself in two days after the riots, was falsely accused by conspiracy theorists of being an undercover government agent sent to stoke violence after the FBI declined to prosecute him, citing a lack of evidence that he had entered the Capitol building or engaged in violence.

The baseless theories were amplified by former President Donald Trump and Fox News, leading Epps to flee his home and move to a remote trailer park in Utah.

He sued Fox News and Tucker Carlson over the matter last July.

“You’re never going to see Mr. Epps commit a crime again,” his attorney said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.