Matthew R. Brackley attends a candidates forum in Wiscasset during his 2022 bid for the Maine State Senate. On Tuesday, May 14, Brackley was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in the Jan 6. 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building. (LCN file photo)
A Waldoboro man who ran for state Senate in 2022 has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capital.
Matthew Brackley, 40, was also sentenced 24 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines and restitution by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols on Tuesday, May 14. Brackley declined to comment when reached on May 14.
According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Brackley’s actions and the actions of others on Jan. 6, 2021 disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.
According to narrative provided the Department of Justice, which cites court documents in the case, Brackley flew from Portland to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021. The following day, he attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall and then made his way to the U.S. Capitol building.
He arrived on the Capitol’s west lawn at about 1:40 p.m., where a large crowd had gathered. Brackley stood in the crowd near the lower west terrace, where he observed rows of bike rack barricades and uniformed police officers preventing people from advancing towards the Capitol.
Brackley then approached a set of stairs underneath a scaffold erected to construct the inaugural stage. Other rioters had climbed onto the scaffold and shredded the white tarp covering the temporary structure, giving Brackley and others better access to the stairs.
Brackley and other rioters then flooded up the stairs and advanced towards the Capitol building. Brackley entered the U.S. Capitol via the Senate Wing Door at 2:23 p.m.
From there, he made his way to the “crypt,” a large circular room immediately below the Capitol rotunda, where a large group of people the DOJ statement referred to as “rioters” filled the room and pushed against a line of U.S. Capitol Police officers.
The crowd in the crypt eventually overwhelmed the line of police officers, gaining further access to the Capitol, according to court documents. Brackley and several dozen people entered a hallway behind the crypt where U.S. Capitol Police officers again stopped them; however, they moved past these officers and continued down the hall.
Brackley traveled through the rotunda and eventually made his way to the Senate Chamber, which had been evacuated several minutes earlier. Here, Brackley and others were stopped by U.S. Capitol Police officers. Two of these officers told Brackley to “back up,” and one officer gave him a small push backward.
Brackley, however, did not retreat and asked where House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s office was as others behind him shouted obscenities, according to court documents. After about 40 seconds of conversation with the officers, Brackley turned to the crowd behind him and shouted, “Let’s go!”
He then leaned forward and, with both elbows extended outward, pushed through the two officers, leading the crowd behind him further into the hallway towards the Senate Chamber.
Brackley’s progress was stopped when a larger group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the hallway from the opposite end and halted the crowd. A police line formed as the rioters pushed against the officers, who tried to back the crowd away from the Senate Chamber. A standstill then ensued between the crowd and police officers in the hallway.
Brackley stood among the crowd as others shouted expletives directed at members of Congress, according to court documents. The rioters then resumed pushing against the U.S. Capitol Police officers while chanting “USA.”
An officer then deployed chemical spray in the hallway, causing Brackley and other individuals to retreat. Brackley exited the Capitol through the South door at 3:05 p.m., over 40 minutes after he first entered the building.
Brackley, a self-employed electrician owns and operates Brackley Electric Inc. in West Bath. In 2022, while a resident of West Bath, Brackley ran as a Republican candidate to represent Maine Senate District 24, which consists of Dresden and all of Sagadahoc County. As a first time candidate, he lost to incumbent Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, in the November election, 12,558-9,016.
A website made for Brackley’s Maine Senate candidacy stated Brackley was raised in New Vineyard and went on to work at Bath Iron Works before starting his own business in 2017. He relocated to Waldoboro after the 2022 election.
FBI agents arrested Brackley at his Waldoboro home on July 21, 2023 and charged him with two felonies and six misdemeanors. On Jan. 18, Brackley pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.
According to court documents, Brackley could have been sentenced to a maximum of 30 months in prison and up to $95,000 in fines, plus $2,000 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building
While awaiting sentencing, Brackley served a speaking role in the Lincoln County Republican caucuses held at the Water of Life Church in Newcastle on March 2.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case, assisted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Boston and Washington field offices. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.
According to the DOJ, in the 40 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,424 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 500 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.
