'Pray I don't get arrested': Capitol rioter's request goes unanswered after classmate reports him to FBI
May 22, 2021
Leonard Pearso Ridge IV claimed on Snapchat to have "fought riot police," got tear-gassed and otherwise implicated himself on social media, according to a new FBI arrest report.
Ridge, of Pennsylvania, was arrested by the FBI on charges of unlawful entry, disorderly conduct and obstructing an official proceeding. The FBI stated it had acted upon two witness accounts of the Snapchat videos -- one from someone who attended high school with Ridge.
Among the boisterous statements made on the videos under the Snapchat profile name "Pearce Ridge" were these, according to the report:
"A loud voice is heard in the video yelling words to the effect of "let's go, let's go. Get in this B*tch." (In another) one can hear the words to the effect of "they're gassing it, they're gassing it," a reference to tear gas being deployed within the Capitol building. The voice then loudly yells "America First B*tch." (A) fifth video starts with a "selfie" style recording and shows a white male, with blonde hair, a camel colored jacket, and a black shirt inside the Capitol with the caption, "Currently making history."
The FBI also reported these prosaic excerpt from Ridge's Snapchat texts:
You can real the full FBI criminal complaint here.