Former Police Officer Sentenced to Over 7 Years in Prison in Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

An off-duty former Virginia police officer who entered the U.S. Capitol with a fellow officer on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to over seven years in prison, a period similar to the longest prison sentence yet in cases related to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach.

On Jan. 6, 2021, proceedings at the U.S. Capitol for a joint session of Congress to count and certify electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election were temporarily interrupted when a sizable group of protesters and rioters entered the building and its surrounds. There were thousands of peaceful protestors who remained at the scene.

Thomas Robertson, 49, a former police sergeant with the Rocky Mount, Virginia, Police Department, declined to address the court in Washington on Aug. 11, before U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper sentenced him to seven years and three months.

Robertson will also be subject to three years of supervision after his sentence. He also must pay $2,000 in restitution.

He gets credit for the 13 months he has already spent in custody; Robertson was initially released after he was arrested and charged in January 2021, but he was rearrested in July 2021 after Cooper ruled that he violated the terms of his pre-trial release by possessing firearms.

The judge determined that Robertson had violated court orders. He continued to buy what the prosecutors called an “arsenal of guns” online. In addition to a fully assembled pipe bomb and an loaded M4 rifle, FBI agents found them at Robertson’s home.

Cooper said he was troubled by Robertson’s conduct since his arrest in January 2021–not only his stockpiling of guns but also his words. Robertson had told a friend Jan. 6 that he was ready to die and fight in civil war.

Federal prosecutors had recommended eight years for Robertson, while his defense attorney had asked for a sentence of no more than 15 months.

Lengthiest Sentence Jan. 6 Cases

The Justice Department noted that more than 860 people have been arrested “for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol” since Jan. 6, 2021. This includes over 260 people who have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Robertson’s sentence of 87 months is the lengthiest prison sentence yet in cases related to the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol, and is on par with that of Guy Reffitt, a 49-year-old Texas man who entered the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 while armed with a gun.

In April, a jury convicted Robertson on five felonies: obstruction of an office proceeding, civil disorder and entering or remaining in restricted buildings or grounds while carrying dangerous weapons, disorderly or disruptive conduct while in restricted buildings while carrying dangerous weapons, and altering with any document or proceedings. Robertson also was found guilty on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct within a Capitol Building.

“Robertson was armed with a long wooden stick. He confronted officers from the Metropolitan Police Department who arrived to support U.S. Capitol Police officers defending the West Front of the Capitol against the mob.” The Justice Department cited court documents.

Prosecutors claimed that Robertson had “anticipated violence” Jan. 6. He packed gas masks and water for Jacob Fracker and himself, along with military food rations and a large wood stick.

Robertson used his law enforcement training “to block Metropolitan Police Officers trying to hold back mob members,” Assistant U.S. attorney Elizabeth Aloi stated in the government’s sentencing memo.

Robertson’s lawyers said that the army veteran was using the stick–deemed a dangerous weapon by federal authorities–to help him walk because he has a limp after being shot in the right thigh while working as a private contractor for the Defense Department in Afghanistan in 2011.

Fellow officer Pleaded Guilty

Another off-duty officer with the Rocky Mount, Virginia, Police Department–Jacob Fracker, 30–was with Robertson on Jan. 6, 2021. Fracker was scheduled to be tried alongside Robertson, but in March 2021, Fracker decided to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. August is the date for his sentencing. 16.

Prosecutors asked Cooper not to send Fracker to prison and to instead give him six months probation with home detention. According to them, Robertson was convicted because of Fracker’s cooperation during trial and testimony.

Court documents say that Robertson and Fracker headed for Washington in Robertson’s car on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021. They were also accompanied by a third man. This was a neighbour who wasn’t charged in this case.

After arriving in Washington Robertson and Fracker participated in a rally at Washington Monument and then “joined an approaching mob of rioters” at Lower West Terrace, Capitol Building, according to the Justice Department.

The off-duty officers separately entered the Capitol building around 2: 15 p.m. within minutes of each other, convening inside the Capitol’s Crypt where they took a selfie of themselves. The men used their phones throughout the day to record their activities.

Both men were arrested on Jan. 13, 2021.

“Prior their arrests they were called by federal law enforcement officers, who informed them about their warrants and asked them to surrender later that day”, the Justice Department stated. The department stated that Robertson had destroyed Fracker’s and his phone, after learning about the criminal charges related this to at the Capitol.

In a letter addressed to the judge Robertson stated that Fracker had actually destroyed cell phones and then lied about it to the FBI, the court, and the FBI. Robertson stated that he had never intended to “disrupt Congress .”

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He stated to the judge that he took “full responsibility for” his Jan. 6 actions and any “poor decisions”. The judge also pointed out that his posts on social media before Jan. 6 and afterwards were the result of stress, alcohol abuse and “submersion into deep ‘rabbit holes” of election conspiracy theory .

In a Facebook post on Nov. 7, 2020, Robertson said that “being disenfranchised by fraud is my hard line.” He also wrote: “I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting a counter insurgency. I’m about to join one, and it is a very powerful one .”

This report was contributed by Reuters and the Associated Press.