NJ Man Charged In Capitol Riot Penalized After Online Twitter Fight: Report

HADDONFIELD, NJ — A Haddonfield dating strategist who was charged in connection with the Capitol riots reportedly faces tighter restrictions after he engaged in an online fight with a man he believes reported his actions to the federal government.

A federal judge has ruled that Patrick. A. Stedman must avoid contact with anyone known to be a potential witness against him, the Courier Post reports.

The ruling comes after a post on Twitter by Stedman that “appears designed” to identify a witness against him, according to the report. The message was a response to a user identified by the court as “Mike” who mocked former President Donald Trump in a Tweet.

In January, Stedman was charged with unlawful entry of a restricted building and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds after he bragged about "storming the Capitol" and encouraged people to join him. He has been released pending trial. Read more here: Haddonfield ‘Dating Strategist’ Charged In Capitol Riots

According to the criminal complaint initially filed against him, Stedman identifies himself as a dating and relationship strategist on his Twitter page under the display name of "Pat Stedman." The complaint says he's a frequent Twitter user. As of Monday morning, he had more than 29,000 followers.

In addition to relationship strategy advice, Stedman posts and comments regularly on political topics. Stedman previously posted a "live stream video" called "COVID/CABAL" on his Twitter account in which he addresses a wide variety of topics, the complaint says.

The FBI received a tip from a source on Jan. 7 that Stedman posted a video to his Twitter account at 3:52 p.m. on Jan. 6 and discussed his participation in the riots:

"I was pretty much in the first wave, and we broke down the doors and climbed up the back part of the Capitol building and got all the way into the chambers," according to the complaint.

The source, a college classmate of Stedman, was interviewed by the FBI on Jan. 19 and was "100 percent confident" the person posting on @Pat_Stedman on Twitter was identical to the Patrick Stedman that he has known since college, according to the complaint.

Another source submitted a tip to the FBI's online tip portal on Jan. 8 about Stedman posting a video to his Twitter account @Pat_Stedman "storming the Capital, then bragging about if after," according to the complaint.

The source claimed Stedman had been "encouraging his tens of thousands of fans to join him in DC for weeks."

On Dec. 30, Stedman posted to his Twitter account a message about going to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. He instructed his followers to "DM" (direct message) him if they were planning to go because he was assembling a "team," the complaint says. The complaint includes screenshots of Stedman's Twitter posts.

On Jan. 6, Stedman posted on Twitter videos that appear to have been taken from inside the U.S. Capitol. In the first image, Stedman posted, "Backwards hat (Antifa) right where they were breaking into the main area of Congress," the complaint said.

In another video, according to the complaint, Stedman posted: "I can tell you having been in the Capitol these videos the MSM (mainstream media) is showing of fights between cops and protestors are unlike any of the dynamics I saw. Does this look like a 'tense' scene to you?"