Tear gas is fired at supporters of President Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
A former Virginia police officer was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Thursday for his role in the Capitol riot, The Washington Post reports.
Driving the news: A federal judge sentenced Thomas Robertson to 87 months in prison, matching the longest sentence handed down to a Capitol rioter so far, per the Post.
- "You were not some bystander who just got swept up in the crowd," Judge Christopher Cooper said at Robertson’s sentencing hearing, according to the Post. "It really seems as though you think of partisan politics as war and that you continue to believe these conspiracy theories."
The big picture: Robertson, 49, joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, at one point using a large wooden stick to block police, according to the Post. He was later fired from his position as a police officer in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
- Robertson was initially released after being charged in January 2021. However, he was rearrested in July 2021 for illegally stockpiling weapons.
- In April, a jury found Robertson guilty on all charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly and disruptive conduct, impeding law enforcement, destroying evidence, and entering and remaining on restricted grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.