Capitol riot suspect texted his ex to call her ‘moron,’ feds say. She turned him in
The ex-girlfriend of a Pennsylvania man accused of storming the Capitol turned him in to the FBI after he called her a “moron” for not believing the election was stolen, federal officials said.
Richard Michetti is accused of texting his ex-girlfriend, who wasn’t named in court documents, while he was in Washington, D.C. ,on Jan. 5 and at the riot the next day because he thought the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, officials said.
“It’s going down here we stormed the building they held us back with spray and teargas and paintballs,” Michetti texted his ex during the Capitol siege on Jan. 6 and also sent photos and videos of the mob, federal officials said.
“If you can’t see the election was stolen you’re a moron,” Michetti wrote, documents say. “... [T]he vote was fraud and [Trump] won but they won’t audit the votes. We are patriots we are not revolutionaries the other side is revolutionaries they want to destroy this country and they say it openly.”
Michetti’s ex-girlfriend told the FBI on Jan. 7 that Michetti was at the Capitol riot and provided law enforcement with messages, videos and photos that he sent her, federal agents said.
On Jan. 6, Trump spoke outside the White House at what he billed as a “Save America Rally,” where he continued to claim that the election was stolen from him and encouraged his supporters to march to Capitol Hill.
Following Trump’s speech, thousands of his supporters marched to the Capitol, tore through barricades and smashed windows as they charged and desecrated the building. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer, and in the weeks that followed, rioters have been charged with federal crimes.
Michetti of Ridley Park was arraigned on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia and charged with “knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and obstruction of Congress,” the Morning Call reported. He was released on bail with electronic monitoring and a court appearance in Washington scheduled for Monday, according to the publication.
If convicted, Michetti faces up to 20 years in prison, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
According to the 10-page statement of facts by an FBI agent, Michetti was identified in pictures and video inside the Capitol, including the Rotunda, during the riot and his ex-girlfriend confirmed that the Chicago White Sox cap, backpack, dark jacket and tan pants belonged to him.
Federal agents said they interviewed Michetti’s former partner on Jan. 11 and she told them that Michetti texted her he was at the Capitol to “stop the vote it’s fraud this is our country.”
The FBI also got a receipt from Yotel Hotel, located a block away from the Capitol, that showed he checked out the day of the riot, according to court documents.