UCLA student who was photographed sitting in Mike Pence's chair during the Capitol riot pleads guilty to obstruction charge

The UCLA student pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction this week after admitting to sitting in the Senate during the January 6 Capitol riot.

Christian Secor, 23, of Costa Mesa, California, faced ten charges related to the insurrection, including a felony count of assault, resisting, or obstructing officers. Federal prosecutors have offered some rioters lesser charges in exchange for their guilty pleas, as the government works to prosecute the more than 800 people arrested in connection with the attack.

Secor was accused of getting rid of his phone and car, moving into his mother's basement, and boasting that he wouldn't get caught after the attack, but prosecutors agreed not to bring a new charge for destroying digital evidence.

11 people helped the FBI identify Secor, who was arrested in February. Secor was live-streamed the breaching of the Capitol and was pictured sitting in the chair of the Vice President.

Secor is more likely to be sentenced to between 21 to 27 months or 53 to 61 months for obstruction of an official proceeding, according to The Washington Post. His final sentence will depend on whether or not he caused property damage or injury.

According to charging documents from earlier this year, Secor founded an unofficial club called America First Bruins while attending UCLA. The university's student newspaper reported that he was active with the campus Republican group as recently as February 2020, at which time the organization said he was banned for inappropriate behavior.

UCLA condemned Secor's alleged actions after his arrest earlier this year.

Bill Kisliuk, the UCLA director of media relations, told the Daily Bruin at the time that the attack on the Capitol was an attack on democracy.

According to court documents, Secor was a member of America First, a group hosted by Nicholas Fuentes, whophpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBBphpBB

Secor shared his own views on the internet, which he referred to as —epic— after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and live- streamed under the name of the UC Santa Barbara mass shooter.

Secor admitted in his plea papers that he walked through Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office after breaching the building. According to court documents, he was among a crowd of rioters who shoved police officers trying to keep the double doors shut.

An attorney for Secor did not respond to a request for comment.