A Jan. 6 rioter was convicted and sentenced in secret. No one will say why

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A felony case stemming from the U.S. Capitol riot appears to have been resolved in secret, with the man released from federal custody this week despite no public record of a conviction or sentencing. Pennsylvania resident Samuel Lazar was arrested in July 2021 and had been jailed since then on charges in the Jan. 6 insurrection. There’s no public record of a conviction or a sentence in Lazar’s court docket. But the Bureau of Prisons tells The Associated Press that Lazar was sentenced in March to 30 months behind bars for assaulting or resisting a federal officer. The Justice Department has refused to say why the case remains under wraps. Lazar’s attorneys haven’t responded to multiple Associated Press requests for comment.