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Orange County protester charged in Jan. 6 insurrection
Orange County Oct 27, 2021
A screenshot of Kim Michael Sorgente at the Jan. 6 insurrection.
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A 50-year-old felon facing charges of attacking two people at a “Stop the Steal” rally and counterprotest outside Santa Ana College last year is now charged with participating in attempts to breach the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to court records obtained Wednesday.
Kim Michael Sorgente was named in a complaint Oct. 21 in federal court in Washington, D.C., charging him with civil disorder and being in a restricted building or grounds. The federal investigation began March 15, just two days before he was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon related to the Dec. 6 protest at 17th and Bristol streets in Santa Ana, according to court records.
Sorgente is charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the Santa Ana protest case. He is accused of attacking two people with a megaphone, according to the criminal complaint.
It’s unclear where Sorgente lives, although an arrest warrant in his Santa Ana case indicated he lived in Pleasanton.
Sorgente was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, a day after he appeared in court in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on the assault with a deadly weapon case.
Sorgente was convicted of carjacking May 7, 1996, in San Bernardino County Superior Court, according to court records.
The FBI agent assigned to the federal case contacted Santa Ana detectives for help identifying Sorgente.
Sorgente, wearing a Make America Great Again baseball hat, can be seen in photos from the insurrection with a megaphone. According to the FBI, he can be seen just after 1:30 p.m. Jan. 6 along with “numerous rioters” at a police line on the west side of the Capitol.
The FBI alleged that at one point during a fracas with police he used his megaphone to shout at officers, “How dare you? How dare you, traitors? How dare you traitors?”
He was seen again in other body-worn camera police footage just after 2 p.m. near the base of the inauguration scaffolding ignoring a command to leave the area, according to the FBI.
The FBI alleged that as officers attempted to clear the area, Sorgente shouted at them with his megaphone, “What are you doing? What are you doing? How does it feel to be a traitor? How does it feel to be a traitor? What the (expletive) do you think you’re doing?”
By 2:40 p.m., the FBI alleged, he had moved over to the west side of the Capitol building, where he entered a tunnel as officers were attempting to keep the crowd at bay.
He allegedly left but then turned around and again went into the tunnel at 2:54 p.m., the FBI said.
He offered water to several other people on scene and then joined efforts to push against the officers “at times rocking together in a coordinated fashion,” the FBI alleged.
“Several rioters threw objects at the officers and used poles to strike at the officers,” the FBI said.
It appears at some point he used water to wash tear gas out of his eyes, the FBI said.
At 3:48 p.m., the body-worn camera footage shows him joining others pushing against a police line in an archway to force their way into the tunnel, the FBI said. Again, the crowd “moved back and forth in a coordinated manner” to break through the police line, the FBI said.
About 4:30 p.m., Sorgente can be seen being pushed out of the archway by police as he hollered, “Oh God, don’t do it. Oh my God, you hurt me bad! Please! Please! Ah, I got hit in the head. I’m bleeding now,” according to the FBI.
Sorgente is scheduled to appear again in Orange County Superior Court on the Santa Ana case for a preliminary hearing Jan. 26.
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley released a statement Wednesday saying Sorgente is an “active anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement organizer in Orange County.”
Foley said he is a “dangerous individual,” who protested outside of her house when she was Costa Mesa mayor.
“He again joined others to protest at my home earlier this year and verbally harassed my family, interrupted my remarks at an event in Huntington Beach to remember the victims of the 9/11 tragedy, which required a police escort to my vehicle to safely leave the event, and most recently attempted to disrupt an event related to the oil spill” that was held in Laguna Beach, Foley said.
Sorgente was being represented by the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, but he complained that his attorney was discussing the details of his case in front of other inmates in jail, which he claimed was endangering his safety. He demanded a new attorney, but the Alternate Defender’s Office conflicted off of the case, so he was assigned a new attorney.
