Delaware Man Gets Jail for Joining Capitol Riot After Tinder Date

A Delaware enterprise proprietor has been sentenced to 30 days of incarceration for storming the U.S. Capitol after seeing the riot erupt on a Tinder date’s tv and taking an Uber experience to hitch the mob’s assault, court docket data present.

U.S. District Choose Thomas Hogan additionally on Friday ordered Jeffrey Schaefer to pay a $2,000 fantastic and $500 in restitution for his participation within the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington.

On the eve of then-President Donald Trump’s “Cease the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, Schaefer drove from Delaware to northern Virginia to spend the night time on the dwelling of a girl whom he had met on the Tinder on-line courting app. The following day, he determined to take an Uber experience to the Capitol after seeing the riot unfold on TV at his date’s dwelling in Alexandria.

“He had the Uber driver drop him off close to the west entrance of the Capitol and he approached the Capitol from that drop off level,” Justice Division prosecutor Anita Eve wrote in a court docket submitting.

Schaefer entered the Capitol although a damaged window close to the Senate Wing doorways, joined different rioters in chanting and spent roughly 28 minutes contained in the constructing earlier than leaving by means of a door, prosecutors mentioned. He posted a number of photos of the riot on Fb, together with one exhibiting a pile of destroyed media gear.

Schaefer, 36, of Milton, Delaware, was arrested in January 2022, He pleaded responsible in August to 1 rely of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol constructing, a misdemeanor punishable by a most sentence of six months behind bars.

Protection legal professional Joshua Insley famous that Schaefer wasn’t accused of participating in any violence or harmful conduct on Jan. 6, when Congress had convened a joint session to certify the outcomes of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Schaefer owns a constitution transportation firm primarily based in Milton. As soon as a “dedicated supporter” of Trump, Schaefer now believes he was “manipulated and utilized by those that maintain energy and can by no means face any penalties,” his lawyer mentioned.

“Whereas Mr. Schaefer accepts accountability for his actions, he was guided and urged each step of the best way by no much less of an authority than the President of the USA and a majority of Republican Senators and Congressman that continued to repeat the ‘Large Lie’ that the election had been stolen by the Democrats,” Insley wrote.

Greater than 900 folks have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 460 of them have pleaded responsible, largely to misdemeanor offenses. Over 320 of them have been sentenced, with roughly half of them receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to 10 years.

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For full protection of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege