Jacob Fracker (left), sentenced only to probation and home confinement, stands next to his former college and fellow veteran, Thomas Robertson (right) in the Capital Building on Jan 6th. (DoJ Photo)
Former Marine — who was later separated from the National Guard after his arrest for actions taken during the January 6th insurrection — was sentenced only to probation in exchange for testimony against his former colleague and fellow veteran and insurrectionist.
Jacob Fracker, 30, pled guilty to criminal conspiracy in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., according to The Associated Press. Fracker was fired from his position within Virginia’s Rocky Mount Police Department and sentenced to probation for a year and almost two months of house arrest.
Days prior to Fracker’s lenient sentencing, his mentor and “father figure”, Thomas Robertson, 49, was handed a sentence of over seven years in prison for his role in the insurrection. Federal prosecutors recommended such a light sentence for Fracker for agreeing to testify against a man he sometimes referred to as “dad”.
CBS News congressional correspondent, Scott MacFarlane covered the hearing. According to MacFarlane, the judge asked the former Marine, “Do you now realize there’s nothing patriotic about interfering with the peaceful transfer of power.” Fracker reportedly responded, “Yes, sir.”
Sentencing at 10am in Capitol riot case of former Rocky Mount, Virginia police officer Jacob Fracker
His co-defendant (fellow officer Thomas Robertson) received an 87-month prison sentence. But Fracker cooperated & testified against Robertson
Fracker could get probation pic.twitter.com/9lafGGK1Xw
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 16, 2022
Fracker, a combat veteran who served in Helmand, Afghanistan, from 2011 to 2013, admired Robertson for his military accolades. Robertson claimed to be a Purple Heart recipient and to have earned the Army’s coveted Ranger Tab. According to prosecutors, neither were true.
Court records state that Robertson “[used] the lies to envelope himself in a cloak of credibility and imbue himself with leadership authority, all of which influenced Fracker’s friendship with his former mentor, and ultimately Fracker’s decision to join the defendant at the Capitol.”
Fracker’s attorneys pleaded guilty on Fracker’s behalf and articulated that Fracker accepts responsibility for his actions, but they also stated that his actions:
“were to a great extent the result of the influence of his mentor and father figure, a man he loved, trusted and respected, and whom he believed from what he had been told held the same values and had been through the same set of life-or-death military service experiences as he had… Mr. Fracker was the victim of Mr. Robertson’s lies more than anyone else, because he truly lost the life and career that meant so much to him, due largely to Mr. Robertson’s urging.”
Since the Capitol riot of Jan 6th, over 860 citizens from all 50 states have been arrested, 12% of which had ties to the military at the time of the insurrection, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
