Sacramento-area Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump sentenced in child porn case
A Sacramento County man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced this week to nearly 7 years in federal prison on a charge of receiving child pornography, court records show.
Kyle Travis Colton, 38, was found guilty in July of receiving sexually explicit materials involving a minor and, on Monday, was sentenced in Sacramento federal court to 80 months in federal prison. The Citrus Heights man was immediately remanded to the prison system by U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd, court records show.
Colton was among six Sacramento-area residents pardoned by Trump in January 2025, fulfilling a campaign pledge to clear those charged in the Capitol insurrection. He was the only one among that group later charged with a federal offense.
In 2024, Colton pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C. to a charge of disorderly conduct in relation to the Jan. 6 riot, during which supporters of Trump marched to the Capitol to try to prevent his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, from being formally declared with winner of the 2020 presidential election.
At the time, investigators said that Colton had bragged to his seatmates on an airplane that he had participated in the riot, showing them pictures. In his plea agreement, he admitted that he had attended a rally at which Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol, and that he had entered the building and refused to leave for more than an hour.
Video evidence later showed Colton standing in line with other rioters as they confronted police in the Rotunda. At one point, Colton grabbed a flagpole being used to assault an officer and handed it back to the attacker.
In the pornography case, prosecutors said Colton’s laptop contained “copious images and videos depicting the graphic sexual abuse of young children,” U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said in a statement. Investigators also found links to known child pornography websites on the device, Grant said.
Colton’s case was part of a broader wave of Jan. 6 prosecutions that included more than 1,200 people nationwide. He was one of several Sacramento-area residents charged for their roles in the Capitol breach, including Jorge Riley, Tommy Allen, Sean McHugh, Valerie Ehrke and Dane Thompson.
