Buford man faces up to 1 year in prison for participating in U.S. Capitol riot

BUFORD, Ga. — A Buford man is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday for his part in the riots at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.

Verden Andrew Nalley took a plea deal in December. Records show that plea agreement charges him with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

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The maximum sentence he could face is a year in prison, a $100,000 fine and a year of supervised release. The agreement states he will also pay $500 in restitution.

Nalley traveled to Washington D.C. alongside south Georgia attorney William Calhoun, who was also charged.

After the riots, Nalley posted photos from inside the Capitol on social media along with a post that read:

The media is telling you lies. We took the Capitol with no weapons, only to show them We The People outnumber the government 10 thousand to 1. If we have to come back, we will bring guns and take our country from them.

He also said that it was time to “drain the swamp” and blamed the demonstration on former Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the 2020 Electoral College votes.

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Court records state that Nalley and Calhoun spent about 30 to 40 minutes inside the Capitol, including the crypt and the Rotunda.

In a federal court hearing last February, Nalley was granted bond, but prosecutors requested he be confined to his home. They cited Nalley’s “disdain for government authority” as the reason for the request. The judge allowed him to leave for work and some appointments.

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His girlfriend told Channel 2′s Tony Thomas that she didn’t believe he had ill intentions when he entered the Capitol building.

“I think I might be to blame for this. He’d never voted. He’d never voted and I encouraged him to register … and when he did, he went wholeheartedly and that was his focus. I should have picked something else, maybe Pokémon,” she said.

Georgia's connection to the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol

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