Alleged Capitol rioter, Army veteran told FBI he was allowed to breach building because he pays his
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Source: Washington Post
Alleged Capitol rioter, Army veteran told FBI he was allowed to breach building because he pays his taxes, feds say
By KIM BELLWARE | The Washington Post | Published: May 13, 2021
Checks to the Internal Revenue Service don't typically come with blanket entry privileges to federal buildings, but a Pennsylvania man charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol allegedly believed as much when he entered the building on Jan. 6.
Gary Wickersham of West Chester, Pa., an Army veteran, offered federal investigators a bizarre narrative of debunked conspiracies and contradictory statements surrounding the attack, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court this week.
The 80-year-old told investigators in January that the attempted insurrection was a "staged" act and that many of the people he saw "cursing, screaming, knocking cops away, breaking windows and doors, and entering the Capitol" were "members of antifa." According to the complaint, Wickersham also believed his 20 minutes inside the Capitol were authorized "because he pays his taxes."
Wickersham was arrested Tuesday and faces a charge of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and one for unlawful entry into a restricted area. He is among more than 410 people who now face an array of federal charges stemming from the attack; at least 40 of those are from Pennsylvania, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
Read more: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/alleged-capitol-rioter-army-veteran-told-fbi-he-was-allowed-to-breach-building-because-he-pays-his-taxes-feds-say-1.673252
Gary Wickersham of West Chester, Pa.
= new reply since forum marked as read
At 80 yrs. old he should know better. 
But the last little part of the excerpt in the below is something I had a problem with too - here it is 4 months later and he's only now being charged and arrested when they knew about him 3 days after the insurrection when they interviewed him and he all but bragged about being there and why. 
Gary Wickersham, 80, of West Chester, is the 40th Pennsylvanian charged with participating in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington.
by Jeremy Roebuck
Published May 12, 2021
Despite his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Gary Wickersham, of West Chester, strongly believed several false — and contradictory — things about it to be true. It was antifa, not supporters of Donald Trump, that smashed through police barricades, assaulted officers and sacked the building, he told FBI agents. And Democrats had purposefully ensured lax security that day hoping Trump fans would invade so they could prosecute them, he claimed.
As for how he squared any of that with his own admitted presence in the building, Wickersham offered only one explanation: He’s a taxpaying American and is authorized to enter the Capitol whenever he wants. That FBI account of a Jan. 15 interview with Wickersham, an 80-year-old retired U.S. Army vet, was contained in documents unsealed late Tuesday, revealing him to be the 40th Pennsylvanian publicly charged with taking part in the deadly riot.
Agents said they identified him three days after the riot when an acquaintance shared texts Wickersham sent to others detailing the 10 to 15 minutes he spent in the chaotic scene at the Capitol. Security footage and social media photos tracked him through the Capitol’s hallways where the footage allegedly shows him confronting two different officers.
When agents showed up at his home in Chester County a week later, he didn’t hesitate to admit he was there, according to court filings in his case.
(snip)
It remains unclear why despite that admission investigators did not charge Wickersham until earlier this month and he was not arrested until Tuesday. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington did not immediately return requests for comment. His attorney, Michael G. Noone, said his client self-surrendered to agents on Tuesday but declined to discuss the case except to say that “he’s talking these charges very seriously,” he said.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/gary-wickersham-capitol-riot-west-chester-20210512.html
I wouldn't be surprised if it was due to the douche William McSwain - U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of PA - who didn't "announce" his resignation until January 14, and finally left January 22.
