Third Protester Pleads Guilty in Plot to Wreck Trump Inaugural Ball, Receives No Jail Time

An anti-Trump protester has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in plotting to shut down an inaugural ball by setting off stink bombs and sprinklers, a case brought after Project Veritas videotaped the man discussing the scheme.

Scott Ryan Charney, 34, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit assault.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, the D.C. resident can have his criminal record expunged in six months if he completes 48 hours of community service, is not rearrested and abides by other conditions including a verbal or written apology to organizers of the targeted event, the DeploraBall.

Mr. Charney is the third of three members of the D.C. Anti-Fascist Coalition charged with conspiracy after he was captured on hidden-camera video at the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor in Northwest Washington.

Paul “Luke” Kuhn and Colin B. Dunn, who received similar deferred sentencing agreements, were sentenced Thursday to community service but no jail time after entering guilty pleas in D.C. Superior Court on unlawful conspiracy to commit an offense.

Mr. Charney, who went by the name Scott Green in the Project Veritas video, said he wanted to ruin the DeploraBall, an inaugural fete organized by the pro-Trump group MAGA3X.

“I was thinking of things that would ruin their evening, ruin their outfits and otherwise make it impossible to continue with their plans — so they get nothing accomplished,” Mr. Charney said in the undercover video.

He and the others talked about smuggling butyric acid, an ingredient commonly used in stink bombs, into the event using water bottles, water guns or beer bottles, according to a plea proffer provided by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.

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