Samuel Fontanez-Rodriguez

Case Summary

Samuel Fontanez-Rodriguez of Emmaus, Penn., noticed the media coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. According to court documents, he texted a link to a New York Times article about the attack, which included a photo of people in clothes resembling his and a friend’s, with the text “Flower got CNN. We got NYT.” Fontanez-Rodriguez also shared his involvement with the FBI, prosecutors say, calling in January of 2021 to say he’d been at the Capitol and entered the building for a “short period of time.” Investigators spoke with a friend of Fontanez-Rodriguez who also went to the Capitol, and they say the friend shared a picture that showed the clothes he wore: a red beanie and a black hoodie. In other photographs, court documents show, Fontanez-Rodriguez wore a red baseball cap and a black backpack. The FBI executed a search warrant on his home and took a hat, a black hoodie, and a pair of tan boots Fontanez-Rodriguez said he wore on the day. He told prosecutors he lost the red beanie and his black face mask. Prosecutors say phone records show his phone using a cell site that covers the area including the inside of the Capitol. Fontanez-Rodriguez was arrested in July of 2022.

Case History

Fontanez-Rodriguez pleaded Guilty to one charge: Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 2/2/2023 to 12 months of Probation; Special Assessment of $10; Restitution of $500; 50 hours community service. Fontanez-Rodriguez received a full pardon on January 20, 2025

Sources

• Primary Documentation
  NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR
• Primary Documentation
  Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR

Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.