Dating App Bumble Match Turns In Suspected U.S. Capitol Rioter

ACROSS AMERICA — People go through great lengths to stand out on dating apps. Some post photos of themselves posing with tigers or in exotic locales while others take the criminally riskier route of claiming they stormed the U.S. Capitol.

That's what Robert Chapman said to a woman he was matched with on the dating app Bumble, the U.S. Department of Justice said in announcing misdemeanor charges against the Carmel, New York, man.

Just one week after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Chapman told a woman on the app that “I did storm the Capitol” and "made it all the way into Statuary Hall,” court documents say. He claimed to have done interviews about his participation in the Capitol siege with The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department said.

"We are not a match," the woman said. “I suppose not,” Chapman responded, according to court documents.

The woman alerted authorities shortly after the exchange, and Chapman was arrested by the FBI on Thursday at his home.

A man matching Chapman’s description was in the Capitol filming the riot on his cell phone, a review of Metropolitan Police Department body camera footage. Prosecutors said he posted multiple selfies inside the Capitol as the riot was going on.

He faces four misdemeanor charges including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

This isn’t the first time a suspected rioter has been done in by a dating app.

Bumble, as well as Tinder, have banned and reported to authorities users who post selfies of themselves rioting, according to The Washington Post.

A few women have even used dating apps to sleuth rioters in hopes of coaxing an admission they participated in the attack before turning them over to authorities, The Post reports.

Suspected rioters have also been turned in by loved ones and even their own social media posts.
The ex-wife of Air Force veteran Richard Barnett reported him to the FBI after spotting him in a photo dressed in military-style clothing while standing on the Senate floor.

Jennifer Leigh Ryan posted on social media about flying to Washington before the riot on a private jet and authorities say she was filmed going up the steps of the Capitol during the attack while encouraging people to hire her as their realtor.