A New Jersey man who stole two microphones belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and smoked a cigarette in the Capitol Rotunda was sentenced to 10 days in prison and a year of probation for his role in the January 6 riot.
Robert Petrosh, 52, of Mays Landing, had been described by prosecutors in court papers “as “among the more culpable misdemeanor defendants arising out of the January 6 riot,” noting that he admitted to telling a Capitol Police officer: “Give us Nancy, and we will leave,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
But prosecutors “dropped four related charges against Petrosh in January after he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of theft of government property,” the Inquirer reported.
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell argued he has not showed remorse and told FBI agents after his guilty plea that he “didn’t think it was that big of a deal. ... I mean they are lucky that’s all that happened. I mean they cheated on a f—ing election,” the news report stated. And this:
“According to court papers, Petrosh told FBI agents that he thought he “was going to die” during the melee in the Crypt and invoked Game of Thrones, referencing the infamous “Battle of the Bastards” scene when Jon Snow is nearly crushed to death by opposing forces.
“After the crowd broke through the barricade of officers, Petrosh walked up a flight of stairs to the Rotunda, where he lit a cigarette, then took the two microphones that were perched on a lectern belonging to the office of the House speaker. Three days later, he texted a friend: “Got your souvenir ... Microphone from congress hall.”
The Inquirer quoted defense attorney Steven Scheffler as arguing “that Petrosh, who fought in Desert Storm and has three children, regrets taking the microphones and smoking a cigarette in the Rotunda but maintains that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ and that he was prosecuted in part for his political ideology.
“Scheffler said he was also fueled by “crowd-induced adrenaline…he was simply a misdirected tourist with misguided views,” he said.
Aside from the theft of the microphones -- which Petrosh was ordered to return within 30 days, according to the Inquirer -- he was most notable as the MAGA rioter busted by gossip between two grandmothers, one of whom was his own mother.
As Raw Story reported last May, “"Authorities say that days after the insurrection, the mother of Robert Petrosh Jr. of Mays Landing told her friend that Petrosh had been one of the mob who broke into the Capitol building," reported McCaffrey Blauner. "Her friend then repeated the gossip to her grandchild. In turn, the grandchild turned the information over to the FBI, authorities say."
You can read the FBI criminal complaint here.