A Bumble user who boasted to a match on the dating app about participating in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been arrested and charged over his alleged role in the insurrection.
According to court documents, Robert Chapman of Carmel, N.Y., was charged Thursday with knowingly entering or remaining on restricted government property without lawful authority, as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. The documents state his arrest came after a person he matched with on Bumble gave a screenshot of the conversation to law enforcement.
“I did storm the Capitol,” Chapman wrote, adding that he had spoken to reporters at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. “I made it all the way into Statuary Hall!”
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“We are not a match,” his potential suitor wrote in response.
Along with the Bumble screenshot, the court documents state that the dating app user also delivered a screenshot to the FBI of Chapman’s public Facebook page that appeared to show Chapman inside the Capitol. The page also included several text posts in which he bragged about taking part in the insurrection. Chapman is one of more than 400 facing criminal charges for allegedly forcing their way into the Capitol as part of a pro-Trump mob attempting to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
In the days following the attack, many participated in online efforts to identify those involved, ranging from sharing viral Twitter threads to purposefully trying to out alleged perpetrators by matching with them on dating apps. Bumble even temporarily removed its political identification filter “to prevent misuse” after a number of women tweeted about posing as conservatives to trick Capitol rioters into sending incriminating evidence.
After appearing via teleconference in federal court on Thursday, Chapman was reportedly released on his own recognizance.