Ex-Rocky Mount police sergeant sentenced to 7 years-plus in prison for role in U.S. Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — A former Rocky Mount police sergeant who was in the first wave of rioters to force their way into the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Thursday to seven years and three months.
The sentence for Thomas “T.J.” Robertson was equivalent to the harshest punishment to be delivered so far in the insurrection cases.
It was the same as that given to another rioter whose actions were similar to Robertson’s, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in imposing the sentence.
Robertson was wearing a gas mask and holding a large walking stick in a defensive posture across his chest as the angry mob approached police officers trying to defend the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol.
“The defendant’s conduct served only to advance the mob’s progress toward the building,” prosecutors said in a court memorandum that asked for an eight-year prison sentence.
Robertson has already spent about 13 months in jail. His personal recognizance bond was revoked last summer after authorities learned that he had ordered an “arsenal” of 34 firearms online and then found a loaded M4 rifle and a partially assembled pipe bomb during a search of his Ferrum home.
In April, a jury convicted Robertson of five felonies and one misdemeanor: Obstruction of an official proceeding, interfering with police officers during a civil disorder, entering a restricted area while armed with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, disorderly conduct in the Capitol, and tampering with evidence.
At the time, Robertson was just the second of more than 800 defendants charged in the insurrection to go before a jury. Juries do not recommend sentences in most federal cases, leaving that to judges after non-binding sentencing guidelines are calculated.
Robertson was off duty at the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising.
Evidence showed that he and a younger colleague, former Rocky Mount police officer Jacob Fracker, joined a crowd of rioters after listening to then-President Donald Trump urge his supporters to “fight like hell” against an election he claimed was rigged against him.
Fracker pleaded guilty and was a key witness against Robertson. He is scheduled to be sentenced next Tuesday, and prosecutors have asked that he be placed on probation.
