Orlando man guilty for involvement at Capitol riot
An Orlando man admitted to partaking in the U.S. Capitol riot, as part of a plea deal that could put him in jail for up to 14 months.
On Wednesday, Robert Flynt Fairchild Jr. pleaded guilty to a charge of civil disorder.
Fairchild, 40, was facing eight federal charges, including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Terms of the plea agreement show the additional charges will be dismissed in exchange for his cooperation with law enforcement agents and his admission of guilt.
Court documents show he has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $2,000 and a special assessment of $100 per felony conviction.
He was arrested last year in Kissimmee after federal prosecutors identified him among a crowd of rioters that attempted to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory over then-President Donald Trump — an attack that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer.
Investigators say Fairchild was captured on multiple police body cameras pushing security gate barriers into a line of police officers.
At 1:23 p.m., he grabbed the security gate and unsuccessfully attempting to remove it from an officer’s control, the complaint said. Later, Fairchild was part of a crowd pushing against the barriers, causing officers to “use their batons and hands to fight back,” according to investigators. He was also identified on another video among a crowd inside the Capitol who yelled “fight for Trump,” the complaint said.
The riot that took place on Jan. 6, 2021, caused about $1.5 million in damages to the United States Capitol, according to the plea agreement.
Fairchild is part of a growing list of Central Florida residents charged for storming the Capitol including, two former Central Florida police officers, a Sanford firefighter, a
Treasure Coast charter boat captain, a Melbourne high school teacher and an Orlando actor who played Judas in a U.S. tour of the Broadway mega-hit “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Kevin Tuck, a Windermere police officer until his arrest, and his son Nathaniel Tuck, a former Apopka police officer, pleaded not guilty. Sanford firefighter Andrew Williams and Kenneth Reda, a former Viera High School teacher, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
More than 780 people have been charged by federal prosecutors for their involvement in the insurrection, with Florida leading the nation in the number of people arrested, according to the latest analysis from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.