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The man who walked into a Washington, D.C., pizza shop armed with an AR-15 and a revolver to investigate an online conspiracy pleaded guilty to federal and local weapons charges Friday.
Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, traveled from North Carolina to Comet Ping Pong in Northwest Washington to investigate the viral internet conspiracy, “Pizzagate.” He walked into the restaurant in December with the loaded guns and fired a shot from the rifle into a door.
The pizza shop is at the heart of the conspiracy that ties Hillary Clinton and John Podesta to a child sex ring supposedly run out of the restaurant, and originated from the Clinton Wikileaks emails during the presidential campaign.
Welch admitted to transporting the weapons from North Carolina in court Friday, and then openly bringing them into the pizza shop before pointing the rifle in the direction of a person. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge for transporting firearms and a local charge for assault with a dangerous weapon.
He faces up to 10 years in prison per count, but both sides of the case called for a sentence of 18 to 24 months for the federal charge and 18 to 60 months for the local charge, reports The Washington Post. Welch also agreed to pay the restaurant $5,744.33 for damages and to forfeit his firearms and ammunition.
“Raiding a pedo ring, possible sacrificing the lives of a few for the lives of many,” Welch said in a text just a few days before he went to the restaurant. “Standing up against a corrupt system that kidnaps, tortures and rapes babies and children in our own backyard.”
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