A Southern California man who photographed himself while helping to trash the Senate Parliamentarian’s office, stole a bottle of alcohol and then smoked marijuana in a Senator’s office during the Jan. 6 riot was sentenced Monday to four years in federal prison.
Erik Herrera, a photographer from El Cajon, was arrested in Los Angeles in 2021 and in 2002 was convicted of obstruction and disorderly conduct charges related to his role in the breach of the Capitol building.
Herrera was among a crowd of pro-Trump supporters who breached the Capitol building during a riot that forced Congressional leaders to flee for safety and temporarily delayed the counting of electoral votes and the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Jurors were shown a photo Herrerra posted of himself on his Instagram account, wearing a pink respirator mask, goggles and a bulletproof vest while holding what appear to be a stack of documents within the Senate Parliamentarian’s office. The image showed items tossed on the ground, and another man with his feet up on a desk behind Herrera. As he left the building, Herrera hoisted a bottle of alcohol he had taken from the Senate office and made a fist pump, according to prosecutors.
Herrera wrote in a caption to the photo “I’m reclaiming Aztlan because I love America.” Asked by another Instagram user about the photo, Herrera responded “I wasn’t thinking much, I just wanted a goofy ‘(expletive) you’ picture,” according to court filings.
Prosecutors say Herrerra went back into the Capitol building and entered an unnamed Senator’s “hideaway” office, where he took photos and video, including images of him smoking marijuana.
See also: List: These Southern California residents are accused of taking part in the Capitol riot
Herrera testified that he came to the Capitol the day of the riot to document the event as a photojournalist, and argued that his comments on social media were simply “banter.”…
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