Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 51
- Location
- Englewood, Ohio
- Charges
- Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building; Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
- Case status
- Pleaded guilty; Dismissed in part or full; Sentenced
- Presidential action
- Pardon
Case Summary
Walter Messer allegedly posted a selfie from inside the U.S. Capitol onto his Facebook account on Jan. 6, 2021. In the photo, he is seen posing with a statue of former President Ronald Reagan inside the building's rotunda with the caption "little selfie with Ronnie," court documents indicate. Captioning another batch of photos from inside the Capitol, he reportedly wrote he was "inside the capital." Messer also allegedly posted videos from inside the building onto YouTube and is identifiable in surveillance footage from that day. Location records obtained by the FBI from AT&T and Google also show him traveling from Ohio to Washington, D.C., and place him inside the building that day, court documents indicate.
Case History
Messer pleaded Guilty to one charge: Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building. The other charges are dismissed. Sentenced on 9/11/2023 to 24 months of Probation; 90 days location monitoring; $10 Special Assessment; Restitution of $500; 60 hours community service. Messer 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.