Capitol Suspect Arrested After Boasting on Dating App

'We are not a match,' woman told him before calling police
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2021 9:58 AM CDT
Capitol Suspect Arrested After Boasting on Dating App
The FBI complaint included a screenshot from the Bumble chat.   (FBI)

When a man on a dating app boasted about storming the Capitol, the woman he messaged told him, "We are not a match," prosecutors say. She then got him a date with the FBI. According to court papers, upstate New York resident Robert Chapman chatted to the woman on the Bumble app a week after the Jan. 6 riot, saying, "I did storm the capitol. I made it all the way to Statuary Hall." The woman shared the messages with law enforcement the same day and investigators found more evidence on social media, the Washington Post reports. Chapman was arrested Thursday and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct on restricted government property, per NBC 4.

Investigators say they identified Chapman from police body camera footage after the tip from the Bumble user. Prosecutors say law enforcement also received tips about Chapman's posts on social media, where he didn't exactly cover his tracks—his Facebook profile picture was a selfie taken inside the Capitol, and another selfie was shared on a friend's page, according to court documents. "My Dear friend and Brostar Robert made it in the Capitol building at the protest yesterday," she wrote. "Wooo Hooooooooo!!!!" Authorities say Chapman was released on his own recognizance after a telehearing in federal court Thursday. The Post notes that soon after Chapman was reported, dating apps started banning users who shared images from the riot. (This suspect was arrested in an "I Was There" shirt.)

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