WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Federal investigators said a man from Loudoun County, Va., whose Twitter handle is @dadbodbob, was charged in connection to the riot at the U.S. Capitol that took place on Jan. 6, 2020.
A criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the FBI received information through its public tips line about a tweet that showed Robert William DeGregoris outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The name on the account was “Sovereign Patriot,” and the handle was @dadbodbob. The text accompanying the picture of DeGregoris said: “Took some pepper spray & tear gas breaching the front doors…..Worth it.”
Investigators said they worked with Twitter and Verizon to trace the Twitter account to an email address and phone number associated with DeGregoris.
From there, they were able to connect the information to a transit card purchased from the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) for use on the Metro system. WMATA pulled information about the Metro stations at which the card was used on Jan. 6 and shared photographs of the person who used the card with federal investigators who determined DeGregoris was that person.
The criminal complaint added that investigators reviewed other images and videos which showed DeGregoris at or near “the tunnel” entrance to the Capitol at the Lower West Terrace. Some footage supposedly shows De Gregoris hitting an officer’s helmet, getting sprayed by police with OC srpay, and helping rioters to push a ladder towards Metropolitan Police Department officers.
The special agent who filed the criminal complaint said when investigators interviewed De Gregoris at his home in Loudoun County, the agent showed him the tweet from “Sovereign Patriot’s” account. The agent said DeGregoris denied recognizing the contents of the tweet, saying, “I don’t know what that is.” Despite that, and given the fact that DeGregoris’ physical appearance matched that of the person seen in the tweet and all the other video and images collected as evidence, the agent concluded that DeGregoris and that person were one in the same.