Arrested Ohio man said ‘I don’t feel shame’ after Jan. 6 Capitol attack
AKRON — FBI agents on Friday arrested a Rittman man accused of helping someone try to scale a wall at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Investigators identified Mason Porter, 38, in part, from a photo taken by a former West Virginia city councilman, who ended up arrested.
Porter is charged with four misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or on restricted grounds, parading, demonstrating or picketing the Capitol and knowingly entering a restricted building or grounds.
Court records do not list an attorney for Porter, and an initial appearance has not yet been set.
More than 1,200 people have been arrested in the FBI’s sprawling investigation into the attack that left more than 100 police officers injured.
Porter told FBI agents that he drove to Washington, D.C., with work friends to attend former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. Trump urged people to “fight like hell” to overturn Joe Biden’s election as president.
Porter went to the Capitol with scores of others and walked inside the building about 2:45 p.m.
Porter took a selfie while inside and snatched a pen off a desk in a hallway, according to court records. After about 20 minutes inside the Capitol, police forced him and a group out of a side door.
Porter spotted someone scaling a wall and tried to help the man up, according to court records.
Eric Barber, a former city councilman in Parkersburg, West Virginia, photographed the incident. The photo ran with a story published in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. Barber eventually pleaded guilty to several charges and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
An unidentified witness called the FBI and identified Porter as the person in the photo, according to court records.
FBI agents also found social media pages where Porter posted photos of himself at the Capitol riot.
The day after the riot, Porter posted on his Facebook page that he had been there and supported the attack.
“I don’t feel shame. Note [sic] even close!,” the post said, according to court records. “There was no violence on ourside [sic] yesterday and we were UNARMED and still took the capital [sic] building. Imagine what could happen if we exercised our second amendment to the fullest. That fear is why the media is twisting the narrative in this. They knew they are vulnerable now.”