A man was jailed for taking part in a riot at the Capitol after a Tinder date
(AP) — A Delaware business owner has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for by storming the US Capitol after seeing a riot break out on Tinder TV and took an Uber to join the mob attack, court records show.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also issued the order Friday Jeffrey Schaefer to pay a $2,000 fine and $500 in restitution for participating in a riot in Washington on January 6, 2021.
Ahead of then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop Theft” rally on Jan. 6, Schaefer drove from Delaware to northern Virginia to spend the night at the home of a woman he met on the online dating app Tinder. The next day, he decided to take an Uber to the Capitol after seeing a riot at his date’s house in Alexandria on TV.
“He had an Uber driver drop him off near the west front of the Capitol, and he drove up to the Capitol from that drop-off point.” Ministry of Justice prosecutor Anita Eve wrote in a court filing.
Schaefer entered the Capitol through a broken window near the Senate wing door, joined other rioters in chanting and spent about 28 minutes inside the building before leaving through the door, prosecutors said. He posted several pictures of the riots on Facebook, including one of a pile of destroyed media equipment.
Schaefer, 36, of Milton, Delaware, was arrested in January 2022. In August, he pleaded guilty to one count of demonstrating, demonstrating or picketing at the Capitol, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum sentence of six months behind bars.
This was noted by lawyer Joshua Inslee Schaefer was not accused of engaging in violence or disruptive behavior January 6, when Congress convened a joint session to approve the results of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Schaefer owns a charter transportation company based in Milton. Schaefer, once a “loyal supporter” of Trump, now believes he was “manipulated and used by those in power and will never face any consequences,” his attorney said.
“While Mr. Schaefer is responsible for his actions, he was guided and pushed at every turn by no less an authority than the President of the United States and most of the Republican Senators and Congressmen who continued to repeat the ‘Big Lie.’ “that the election was stolen by the Democrats,” Inslee wrote.
More than 900 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riots at the Capitol. More than 460 of them pleaded guilty, mostly to hooliganism. More than 320 of them were convicted, about half of them received prison terms ranging from seven days to 10 years.
https://wgntv.com/news/man-gets-jail-for-joining-capitol-riot-after-tinder-date/