A Trump supporter was arrested for storming the Capitol after he boasted on a dating app about ‘making it all the way into Statuary Hall’.
Robert Chapman bragged that he ‘did storm the Capitol’ to a woman on Bumble before she replied ‘we are not a match’ and informed the police, court papers allege.
Chapman, of Carmel in Putnam County, New York, was arrested by police on Thursday for his alleged involvement in the Capitol Hill riots which saw hundreds of Trump’s mob ransacking the seat of American democracy.
He was charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct on restricted government property.
Trump supporter Robert Chapman was arrested for storming the Capitol after he boasted on a dating app about ‘making it all the way into Statuary Hall’. Pictured: Video footage from the police shows an individuals the FBI believe is Robert Chapman
Robert Chapman bragged that he ‘did storm the Capitol’ to a woman on Bumble before she replied ‘we are not a match’ and informed the police, court papers allege
In the conversation on Bumble, Chapman bragged: ‘I did storm the Capitol. I made it all the way into Statuary Hall.’
But the woman he had matched with said ‘we are not a match’ before taking a screenshot and sending it to police.
The woman also informed the FBI that she had seen a Facebook post in which another person shared a photo of Chapman allegedly inside the Capital.
The picture was captioned: ‘My Dear friend and Brostar Robert made it in the Capitol building at the protest yesterday… Wooo Hooooooooo!!!!’
In the comments, an individual with the username ‘Robert Erick’ – who the FBI believe is Chapman’ writes: ‘These are your peers? colleagues? they are a bunch of little b—h trolls. Keyboard warriors who don’t do a f—–g thing.’
In other posts by the ‘Robert Erick’ account from the day of the Capitol riots, the user said: ‘I’M F***IN INSIDE THE CRAPITOL!!!’ alongside pictures appearing to depict Chapman inside the Capitol building.
The woman also informed the FBI that she had seen a Facebook post in which another person shared a photo of Chapman allegedly inside the Capital. The picture was captioned: ‘My Dear friend and Brostar Robert made it in the Capitol building at the protest yesterday… Wooo Hooooooooo!!!!’
In other posts by the ‘Robert Erick’ account – believed to be Robert Chapman by the FBI – from the day of the Capitol riots, the user said: ‘I’M F***IN INSIDE THE CRAPITOL!!!’ alongside pictures appearing to depict Chapman inside the Capitol building
The day before the riots, the user said: ‘Getting out of New York City, the rotten apple. Gonna go down to the District of Criminality to Enjoy some much deserved entertainment.’
The FBI then reviewed body-camera footage from the Metropolitan Police Department from inside the Capitol on January 6 and found an individual who appears to be Chapman in Statuary Hall, prosecutors said.
During a video, Chapman is seen filming the activity inside the Capitol building using his phone and his face is clearly visible in screen captures, prosecutors allege.
The FBI claimed that they determined Chapman was in the video in the Capitol by comparing screen captures previous social media pictures and also a mugshot from his arrest in 2018 by the New York Police Department.
The FBI claimed that they determined Chapman was in the video (left) in the Capitol by comparing screen captures previous social media pictures (right) and also a mugshot from his arrest in 2018 by the New York Police Department
The 2018 mugshot of Chapman from the New York Police Department that the FBI used to allege it was Chapman inside the Capitol building during the riots
Chapman appeared via teleconference in federal court in White Plains in New York state on Thursday. He was released on his own recognizance, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York told NBC New York.
Chapman’s arrest comes after a suspected US Capitol rioter accused of attacking three cops was arrested by the FBI using facial recognition software to find his girlfriend’s Instagram.
Stephen Chase Randolph, of Harrodsburg in Kentucky, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with assaulting a federal officer, obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and obstruction of justice and Congress, according to the FBI statement.
Randolph was identified as an alleged rioter thanks to sophisticated facial recognition software that matched images of him at the riots to photos uploaded to his partner’s social media from December 2020, the FBI revealed.
Federal authorities allege that Stephen Chase Randolph of Harrodsburg, Kentucky (above) took part in the January 6 MAGA riot at the United States Capitol
Federal authorities managed to track down Randolph through the social media account of Jeannie Hood (right)
Some of the Instagram snaps are said to have shown him wearing the same clothes as the man pictured rioting.
Using open-source software to find a photo of Randolph on his girlfriend’s social media, agents were then able to find Randolph’s own Facebook page and mount an undercover sting. The girlfriend has been identified as Jeannie Hood.
Randolph’s girlfriend’s Instagram containing the photo the FBI used is private. It is unclear if the profile was open when it was scanned with the software.
The FBI says that is used facial recognition technology to identify Randolph from his girlfriend’s Instagram account. The image above was posted to Instagram by Randolph’s girlfriend in December 2020. Randolph is seen above wearing the same gray Carhartt knit cap. Randolph’s girlfriend’s Instagram containing the photo the FBI used is private. It is unclear if the profile was open when it was scanned with the software.
Agents have yet to disclose further details about the software. But it likely used an algorithm to study the suspect’s facial features, before turning them into a mathematical code. That code is then compared to millions of photographs on databases – or social media – to try and find a face whose features match.
‘Open source’ is a category of software that is accessible to the public for use and can be shared, modified, or enhanced thanks to its available source code which can be altered by programmers.
More than 370 people are facing federal charges in the deadly insurrection of the Capital building, which also sent lawmakers into hiding and delayed the certification of President Joe Biden’s election win.
Many of those who have been arrested and charged were tracked down through viral videos that led investigators to identify them on their social media accounts.
