Philly Amtrak employee pleads guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — A Philadelphia Amtrak employee who skipped work to storm the U.S. Capitol along with a mob of angry supporters of former President Donald Trump pleaded guilty Friday to charges of illegally entering the building.

Ronald Andrulonis, a 38-year-old Army veteran who served multiple tours in Iraq before joining the railroad company, told a federal judge he twice entered the Capitol that day, snapping photos and carousing with others in the office of a U.S. senator.

Surveillance footage showed him entering through a broken window and then milling around several areas of the building, including the rotunda, crypt, and Supreme Court chamber stairs as rioters threw chairs at police.

Andrulonis’ guilty plea, to one misdemeanor count, means he could face up to a year in prison at his sentencing hearing scheduled for December.

But as he stood ramrod straight at the court lectern Friday next to his lawyer, Thomas C. Egan, he hesitated when asked by U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell why he’d reentered the Capitol building after leaving the mob scene the first time.

“There were two police officers there, and I asked them permission to go back inside,” he said. “They gave me permission … and that is the truth.”

He later explained he left again, immediately, when he saw rioters were pushing against police lines in the Capitol Rotunda.

With his admission of guilt Friday, Andrulonis joined the more than 60 Pennsylvanians convicted of playing a role in the historic attack, which caused millions in damage, left scores of officers injured and threatened the peaceful transition of presidential power. Most, like him, have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts.

Others charged from Philadelphia include Zach Rehl, president of the city’s chapter of the Proud Boys, and at least three other members of that group, as well as a bartender at Delilah’s Gentlemen’s Club & Steakhouse, and a construction company owner who took his son to the Capitol and later bragged on social media about relieving himself in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

In all, the Justice Department has charged more than 1,000 people with participating in the riot.