FBI agents were able to track down a man accused of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after he allegedly admitted to his involvement to a potential love interest on a dating app.
Robert Chapman was arrested Thursday in Putnam County, New York after investigators were tipped off to his involvement by one of his matches on Bumble.
Court documents show that on Jan. 13 — one week after the deadly riots — Chapman was chatting on the dating app when he told his match that he was involved.
“i did storm the capitol,” Chapman wrote, according to screencaps included in the court documents. “i made it all the way into Statuary Hall.”
Chapman added that he had spoken to multiple newspaper reporters for interviews while storming the Capitol.
“We are not a match,” Chapman’s Bumble companion said.
“i suppose not,” Chapman responded.
The Bumble connection contacted the FBI with the information the same day. Investigators were then able to match Chapman’s profile picture on the app to police body cam footage from the riots.
Investigators also connected Chapman to a Facebook photo that allegedly shows Chapman inside the Capitol building. They alleged that he commented on that photo from a profile with the name “Robert Erick” — a profile that includes status updates about traveling to D.C. and being “INSIDE THE CRAPITOL!!!”
Chapman is charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct on restricted government property, according to WNBC-TV.
Chapman is one of hundreds of people charged in connection with the mob of Trump supporters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 in the hopes of stopping the certification of Electoral College votes that verified Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.
Bumble is a dating app that matches random people together based on interests. In heterosexual couples, if two users "like" each other's profiles they are able to message each other, though only female users can make first contact. In homosexual couples, either user can initiate contact.
