North Adams Man Sentenced to Probation in Jan. 6 Insurrection

03:32PM / Tuesday, April 05, 2022Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A local man charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to three years of probation for trespassing.

Brian McCreary, 33, was captured on film several times inside the Capitol next to the so-called "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley, who was sentenced last year to 41 months in prison.

McCreary was arrested a year ago by agents from the FBI's Boston bureau. He was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, trespassing, disorderly conduct on the grounds and in the building, and demonstrating within the building.

Last October, he pleaded guilty to "entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds" in a plea deal.

According to court documents, McCreary had attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C., and walked to the Capitol with a crowd intent on stopping the counting of elector ballots for the 2021 presidential election. He entered a door that had been kicked open and walked up to the second floor of the Senate side. He was twice told to exit the building by law enforcement before leaving but then re-entered through a separate door that also been kicked open. He finally exited after hearing a gunshot and drove home.

The next day, he contacted the FBI through its tip line and provided footage he had taken inside and outside the Capitol and later cooperated agents. According to the court filing he signed, McCreary told the FBI that he had attended the rally because he was frustrated with the results of the presidential election and that an audit had not been performed to "address allegations of mass voter fraud."

There has been no evidence of any mass voter fraud.

On April 1, he was sentenced to 36 months of probation, including 42 days of intermittent incarceration and two months of home detention. He also received a fine of $2,500 and is required to pay $500 in restitution toward the $1.5 million in damage done the Capitol.

The cases of two Pittsfield men, Troy Sargent and David Lester Ross, who also attended the rally, have not yet been resolved.

Sargent has a number of trespassing and disorderly charges, as well as assaulting federal officers and engaging in physical violence on the Capitol grounds. Ross was charged in D.C. Superior Court for trespassing and has a status hearing on May 20.

Tags: trespass,

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North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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