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Jacob Fracker is a member of the Virginia National Guard and a police officer in the small town of Rocky Mount, Virginia. On January 6, he joined the crowd that stormed into the U.S. Capitol and posted a photo of himself next to a comrade. -deputy officer with his middle finger raised in front of a statue of a Revolutionary War commander, according to court documents.
Mr Fracker and the other officer, Thomas Robertson, were arrested last week for knowingly entering a restricted-access building and violently entering or engaging in disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds. A public defender representing Mr. Fracker declined to comment. On Facebook, the Marine Corps veteran said he hadn’t done anything illegal. “I can protest for what I believe in and still support your protest for what you believe in. I fought for your right to do so,” he wrote in a Facebook post after the riot, according to the complaint.
Mr. Robertson could not be reached for comment. He posted the photo on Instagram and said he was proud of it, according to a federal complaint.
A spokesperson for the Virginia National Guard, deployed to Washington, DC on Jan. 7, said it would investigate the matter. The Director of the City of Rocky Mount said that Messrs. Fracker and Robertson have been put on administrative leave while officials review the case.
As the total number of federal arrests in the Capitol Riot exceeds 100, Mr Fracker is one of at least 18 current and former police, firefighters and military personnel who were charged on Friday, according to a Wall Street tally Newspaper. They include a retired Pennsylvania firefighter accused of throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police, and a Navy veteran who calls himself the QAnon Shaman. Additionally, Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was shot dead by Capitol Hill police as she tried to get through a window to a door inside the building.
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