A former Virginia police officer who stormed the US Capitol along with a mob of MAGA insurrectionists on Jan 6, 2021, was found guilty on all six charges he faced for his role in the deadly attack that day.
“Thomas Robertson, a former sergeant of the Rocky Mount police in Virginia, faced charges including impeding law enforcement officers, obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in restricted grounds, and tampering with evidence,” CNN reported Monday.
The jury deliberated for around 13 hours after hearing from multiple witnesses during the trial last week, including Washington police officers who were there during the attack, federal agents, and Robertson’s former police colleague and co-defendant who testified as part of a plea deal with the government, according to CNN.
During the trial, a DC Metropolitan Police officer testified that Robertson, hit him and another officer with a stick as they tried to pass through the mob of rioters during the attack.
Prosecutors played several clips of the incident, including footage from police body cameras worn that day.
Prosecutors also showed online posts Robertson allegedly wrote a month before the attack where he called for an “opened armed rebellion,” CNN reported.
“The defendant made good on that promise,” assistant US attorney Elizabeth Aloi told the jury during opening arguments, saying that Robertson used a large stick to impede officers who were called in as back up during the riot.
According to the report, Robertson’s former Rocky Mount police colleague Jacob Fracker testified that Robertson joined him inside the Capitol, took a photo with him and joined in chanting and cheering with the crowd inside.
Fracker also testified that he had given Robertson his cell phone after the pair were told to turn themselves in, and that Robertson had put the phone in a container for ammunition and told him something to the effect of “problem solved.” Both Robertson and Fracker activated new phones in the days following the riot, according to FBI agent Kathryn Camilleri, who investigated the two men.
Robertson has been awaiting his trial in jail since July, after investigators said they found a rifle and bomb-making material in his home and learned that he bought another 37 guns on the internet after his original arrest in January 2021.
A sentencing date has not been set.
