Former WCSO deputy-in-training found guilty of five Jan. 6 charges following trial

On Wednesday, a former Williamson County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) deputy-in-training was convicted of five felonies stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection following a week-long jury trial.

29-year-old Ronald Colton "Colt" McAbee, of Unionville, was found guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

As previously reported, in Sept. McAbee also pleaded guilty to an additional count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer and act of physical violence on the Capitol grounds related to the insurrection.

McAbee was a deputy-in-training in WCSO's detention division from Nov 9, 2020, to March 23, 2021, and was arrested in Nashville in Aug. 2021.

Williamson County Sheriff Dusty Rhoades told The News in 2021 that McAbee had sustained an off-duty injury which had kept him on a medical leave from the department during the insurrection.

Sheriff Rhoades said that WCSO was later contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The attack, which disrupted a session of Congress where the certification of the 2020 election was taking place, has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people across the nation, including several Tennesseans. 

Prosecutors point to a YouTube video, which can be viewed below, noting that at the 5:35 mark the group can be seen in the large crowd engaging in the riot.

McAbee was arrested along with a Michigan man as part of an ongoing investigation into five other men who attacked police officers with a baton, crutch, flag pole and reinforced gloves that prosecutors called "deadly and dangerous weapon[s].”

A federal court jury found McAbee inflicted injuries on a Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer, which resulted in that unidentified officer sustaining "a head laceration, concussion, elbow injury, bruising, and bodily abrasions."

It's unclear at this time what McAbee's sentence could be for these crimes, but he is already facing a maximum of eight years and six months in prison, up to $255,000 in fines, and up to eight years of probation for his single conviction from September. 

He is expected to be sentenced on all the charges in Feb. 2024.

The Huffington Post reported that McAbee was chastised by the judge for displaying a "sheriff" patch as he assaulted police officers, an act that the judge called "outrageous."

The Tennessean first reported on McAbee’s connection to WCSO and also reported that prosecutors argued in court that McAbee should be held without bail, calling him a "threat to the peaceful functioning of our community."

Their report cites that, at one point, McAbee also allegedly flashed a badge to police in order to gain entrance to the Capitol. 

The Tennessean also reported that before his stint with WCSO, McAbee worked as a deputy with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia. 

More than 1,100 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and the FBI continues to ask the public for information to assist in the ongoing investigations by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visiting tips.fbi.gov.