Texas Father, Son Chance & James Uptmore Arrested For Alleged Involvement In Capitol Riots
WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - A Facebook post led the FBI to the arrests of Chance Uptmore and his father James of San Antonio for their alleged involvement in the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
Both of them were charged with: knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
A tipster told special agents about the post, which Chance Uptmore shared on his Facebook page. He claimed that he had videos taken while he was inside the Capitol building. According to the criminal complaint, Chance also shared a photo of himself outside the Capitol on the day of the siege and indicated he was inside in comments.
Chance shared: "When a painting was grabbed off the wall, we helped cops recover it. The cops were saying stuff like, 'We stand with you... Thanks for being here... You made your point now leave calmly.' I have it ALL on tape."
The FBI said Chance's Facebook account, along with his alleged incriminating comment and photo were deleted.
On Jan. 9, 2021 FBI agents conducted open source and law enforcement database checks to investigate Chance.
On January 14, 2021, agents found a Telegraph UK news story covering the riots and saw a still image from a news story, which they identified as Chance.
FBI agents also located a CNN article covering Capitol siege. Like the Telegraph UK news story, a still image from the CNN showed who they believe is Chance, according to the arrest affidavit.
On January 17, 2021, agents executed a federal search warrant for Chance's home (where he lives with his father), car and digital devices. During the execution of that warrant, they conducted a non-custodial interview of Chance, as well as his father, James also known as "Sonny."
In the criminal complaint, it's revealed that Chance "volunteered" that he and his father traveled to Washington, D.C. on January 5, 2021 to attend the January 6, 2021 rally. He said the trip was part of a five-day trip to celebrate Chance's birthday.
Chance admitted that both he and his father were on Capitol grounds when the breach of the Capitol building happend, and both men entered the building. According to Chance, his father followed him in after advising that he not enter. But according to Chance, they "got caught up" in the crowd.
Both men took videos of the melee inside the building on their cell phones.
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