Ray Epps: Target of Capitol riot conspiracies sentenced to probation

Image source, Getty Images

A former US Marine who was targeted by online conspiracy theorists has been sentenced to one year of probation for his role in the Capitol riot.

Ray Epps, 62, pleaded guilty last year to disorderly conduct.

He was pictured outside Congress on 6 January 2021, but did not go inside the building.

Epps, who has always denied claims by fringe news outlets and online activists that he was a federal agent, avoided jail at a hearing on Tuesday.

In addition to one year of probation, he was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Epps was captured on video in Washington on 5 January and 6 January 2021, after traveling to the city from his home in Arizona.

In footage from the night before the riot, he was seen urging people to enter the Capitol building.

Members of the crowd were suspicious and chanted back “Fed! Fed!” – accusing him of being a law enforcement official.

The following day, during the riot itself, Epps was seen on another video whispering into the ear of a man who then charged at police lines. Epps later said he unsuccessfully tried to calm the man down.

After the riot, conspiracy theories began to circulate online that Epps was secretly working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but the bureau denies that he was ever an employee or a source.

The videos of Epps, along with reports that law enforcement did have confidential sources among some of the extremist groups at the Capitol, became a key point driving the speculation.

The rumours started on alternative news outlets and fringe social media accounts, and were then referenced on mainstream outlets including Fox News.

They became part of a larger effort in some right-wing circles to minimise the day’s events and shift the blame for the riot away from the crowd of Mr Trump’s supporters.

Epps, a former member of the Oath Keepers militia, said that he got carried away with his mistaken belief that widespread fraud swayed the 2020 election and his support for Mr Trump.

“I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust,” Epps said via video link during Tuesday’s hearing in Washington.

Defence attorney Edward Ungvarsky said in a statement that he welcomed the decision and that it would allow Epps and his wife “to try to move forward and try to repair their lives from the incessant verbal and other attacks on Mr Epps that have led to very real past and current concerns for their physical safety”.

The arrest and sentencing have not quelled the rumours about Epps, with the claims continuing online on Tuesday.

Epps has pushed back on the allegations.

In July, he sued Fox News over the rumours, accusing the network of defamation and claiming he had to close his business and move to Utah due to threats and harassment that he and his wife received over the conspiracy theories.

Fox has said its on-air hosts were entitled to share constitutionally “protected opinions” about Mr Epps.

At least 1,265 defendants have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot, according to the latest figures from the US Justice Department. More than 900 have pleaded guilty or have been convicted.