“You weren’t a bystander who just was noticeable up in crowd,” Judge Christopher R. Cooper said at the sentencing of Robertson on Thursday. in US District Court in Washington. “You seem to really think of partisan politics like war, and that you keep believing in these conspiracy theories.”
Robertson, aged 49, was found found guilty by a jury earlier in this year of six crimes, including using a large wooden stick to block the police outside Capitol and destroyed his phone when he home. Fraker, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, testified at trial.
Cooper said the Robertson case was like this. of Guy Refitt, Member of far right anti-government militia group Three percent who ran into an officer outside Capitol with a gun. Reffit was sentenced to 87 months in prison by another judge.
At sentencing, Robertson portrayed his actions on January 6 as an aberration in life of distinguished member of law-abiding and respected community. The government documents suggest he became radicalized under the influence of surroundings, including the boss of a small a nearby police department and a retired FBI agent.
prosecutors took unusual step of publication of two detailed FBI investigations into Robertson’s claims made in his appeal for mercy.
Retired police chief Dennis Deacon wrote to the court that he helped train Robertson as a police officer and that these crimes were “fully solved”. out of character.”
The agent produced a text conversation from March 2021, in to which Robertson told Deacon, “I can kill every agent they send for at least two weeks” and that he is “ready for die in battle”. Deacon replied that Robertson should “To be smart, pick battles, plan your logistics, recruit very carefully and hope this doesn’t happen down to this…we need a place go…remote protected, water, very rugged terrain.”
Cooper said he found especially “troubling” is that Robertson made these comments after law enforcement officers were critically injured at the Capitol.
In an interview, Deacon said he told Robertson to recruit “friends”. for “Whatever the inevitable happens… flood or a hurricane, or in “highly unlikely” event what ” government overthrown by others outside”.
Deacon retired last year as chief of police in Boones Mill, Virginia, near Rocky Mount. (When he was promoted in 2013, he said he was also sole officer on in force; there were seven of them.)
Another man, who is said to be a retired FBI agent, went to the Capitol. with Robertson and Fraker, but according to court records, they didn’t go inside. That man, who failed to contact for comment called the Capitol police “cowards” who “will be on knees before us” in text messages to Robertson, the records say.
Fraker set be sentenced on Tuesday.
In his letter to the court, Fracker said he was branded a “rat”, “snitch”, and “snitch”.back dagger” from community members for testifying against Robertson. “It really is just heart breaks,” he said.
Robertson was his mentor and “once valuable father figure,” wrote Fraker.
At least two dozen people with past or current ties to law enforcement are accused with criminal participation in January 6 attack. michael german, former FBI agent who studied far-right radicalization of police at the Brennan Center at NYU School of Law for justice, said bureau is in “permanent denial” problem.
“Law enforcement agencies have a lot of power to harm people,” he said. “Why don’t we see aggressive project designed protect public?
In an FBI statement, a spokeswoman said: “We cannot and do not investigate ideology. The FBI investigates when someone crosses the line between expressing opinion and violating federal law.”
Robertson’s letter to court explained his anger social media posts before the riot as a product of alcohol abuse and isolation while the wife was working in New York.
“I was… all alone in home,” he wrote. “I sat up at night drinking too much and reacting to articles and sites provided to me by Facebook algorithms.”
However, an FBI agent wrote that Robertson’s wife left for New York after January 6, not before, and that Robertson appeared to have had an extramarital affair while she was away. Moreover, the agent stated that if Robertson was drunk when he wrote the messages on Facebook that he will meet the victory of Joe Biden with violence, he either drank on police shift or just before one.
At sentencing, Robertson blamed Fracker. for destroy their phones after a riot, something prosecutors The noted contradicts both the testimony in court and the textual evidence.
“The truth doesn’t matter to this defendant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi said. in court. “He’ll say whatever he thinks he needs to say in order to get out of situation.”
Robertson also misled the court, Rocky Mount police, journalists and friends about his military achievements, according to the FBI. He pointed in various interviews and talks he trained as an army sniper, ranger and paratrooper in 1990s; served as an infantryman, sniper and sergeant when he was re-enlisted in 2000s; and received a Bronze Star and was awarded a Purple Heart after injury.
The FBI agent said that Robertson was released three weeks after basic preparation in 1991 for “flaw of motivation”; he is re-recruited in 2006, but only served as military a police officer and had no apparent training for any other specialty. He spent about eight months in Iraq with Virginia National Guard, then went to Afghanistan as a contractor in 2011. There he was injured, but contractors do not have the right for Purple heart. Agent also said that Robertson exaggerated his recovery time.
The agent suggested that Robertson may have committed the crime. crime with these lies, in accordance with the law, which forbids using “stolen valor” for material benefit.
Defense attorney Mark Rollins said that while Robertson “may have bragged about his past” and “made a little clear mistakes”, he served his country and community in ways that can’t be faked. “He always served his neighbor,” Rollins said. “He bled out for this country.”
Robertson was released after his arrest in January 2021 but jailed a few months after leaving on what Cooper called “wonderful shopping”. for powerful assault weapon”, while “becoming even more radical”. Robertson could be charged with illegal firearms possessionthe judge noted.
