Home confinement suggested for Bridgewater man in Capitol riot; defense cites ‘too much Fox News’

Federal prosecutors are recommending that a Grafton County man be sentenced to one month of home confinement and 60 hours of community service for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, noting that he has no criminal record and appears to have stopped another rioter from throwing a chair inside the building.

For his part, Bridgewater resident Thomas R. Gallagher says he has felt “immense shame and anxiety” for entering the Capitol and is offering to pay $500 restitution to the Architect of the Capitol. He also says he has no connections to far-right groups and began watching too much conservative news media during the 2020 presidential election.

Those assertions are included in sentencing memorandums filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., where Gallagher faces sentencing on Oct. 13.

Gallagher, who turned 62 last month, pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a U.S. Capitol building. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges originally brought against him, including remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; and disorderly conduct in a U.S. Capitol building.

The filings reveal previously undisclosed details about Gallagher’s actions in the Capitol during the riot and about the man himself, who has kept a low profile since the incident.

The son of a firefighter, Gallagher grew up in Springfield, Mass., and graduated from North Adams State College in 1983 with a degree in business administration. He worked for 32 years for the Department of Defense as a quality control analyst in Andover, Mass., including stints at both the Defense Logistics Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency.

Gallagher, who had top-secret security clearance, retired in 2018, and he and his wife, Valerie, moved with their daughter to a home they built in Bridgewater, near Newfound Lake. An avid drummer, Gallagher has also been active in Alcoholics Anonymous and “has maintained his absolute sobriety from alcohol” for 26 years, says his court filing, via his Alexandria, Va.-based attorney, Sebastian Norton.

“He has maintained his regret, remorse and shame since the moment of his arrest,” the filing states. “Tom’s actions that day do not reflect who he is.”

It also notes that Gallagher wrote in an April 5 letter, “...I regret my lack of judgment beyond anything I have ever felt.”

His filing, referring to a statement from a lifelong friend, said “Tom began watching far ‘too much Fox News’ and ‘didn’t have anything else going on’ ” during the 2020 presidential election, and “began to believe the theories that were espoused on national TV that the 2020 election results were fraudulent.”

Gallagher boarded a bus in Newton, Mass., paying $75, to attend a rally supporting Donald Trump in Washington but did so “with no intention of visiting, let alone invading, the U.S. Capitol or in any way impeding the work of Congress in certifying the election, other than to show his support for then-President Trump,” his filing states.

Gallagher faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. In their sentencing memo, federal prosecutors Seth Adam Meinero and Susan Lehr requested that he be sentenced to one month home confinement, 60 hours of community service, three years probation, an unspecified fine, and $500 in restitution.

Their filing, which included photos of Gallagher in the Capitol, said his conduct should be considered part of the riot but it was “on the lower end of the spectrum of criminality.”

At one point, he moved a chair that other rioters had thrown down a Capitol stairwell, and video evidence “is consistent with his assertion that he admonished another rioter not to throw a chair inside the building,” prosecutors wrote. He also later consented to a voluntary interview after his arrest with the FBI, the government’s filing said.

“The FBI uncovered no evidence that Gallagher engaged in violent or disruptive conduct at the Capitol grounds or inside the building,” the filing said. But it also noted, “The indications were clear that a riot was occurring around him, yet he did not turn back. ... Make no mistake, neither Gallagher nor any other rioter was a mere tourist that day.”

Gallagher’s filing includes letters of support from some friends and acquaintances, including a retired lieutenant in the Hampden County (Mass.) Sheriff’s Department and a counselor there as well.

A letter, from Cindy L. Young, who lives in the Bridgewater area, said she had gotten to know Gallagher and his family recently, in part through his music.

“The man I have come to know is passionate with regard to his political beliefs, but is in no way a violent or extreme individual,” she wrote. “I believe he got caught up in the mob mentality of January 6th, and unfortunately was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an incident that is representative of Tom’s character.”

Gallagher’s filing notes that he did not resist arrest but was “taken to the ground” by police in the Capitol Visitor Center and “received a significant amount of pepper spray to the face.” It also said he was held in a local detention center for one night in Keene, after being re-arrested by federal agents a week after the riot, and tested positive for COVID-19 shortly thereafter.

“Although impossible to verify, Tom believes he contracted the virus while incarcerated overnight,” his filing said.

Gallagher plans to attend the sentencing in person and is requesting a “non-jail” sentence, saying in the filing, “Tom accepts full responsibility for his actions and will accept whatever sentence this Court deems appropriate.”

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