Jesse James Rumson (via FBI court filings).
The Jan. 6 rioter known as “Sedition Panda,” a Florida man who memorably wore the headpiece of a bear costume to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, has been convicted for his role in the riots.
Jesse James Rumson, 38, was found guilty of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, trespassing, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building, and parading in a Capitol building, following a bench trial by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Donald Trump appointee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
In court, Nichols called Rumson’s version of events “absurd” and “patently incompatible with the objective evidence and testimony,” officials said. He claimed he didn’t know he was in a restricted area that day until it was too late, NBC News reported.
In court documents, prosecutors called Rumson educated and knowledgeable and said he knew what he was doing that day.
“Despite this knowledge, Rumson chose to attack law enforcement on that day,” prosecutors said.
In a statement to the New York Times, Rumson’s attorney, Anthony Sabatini, criticized the handling of the Jan. 6 cases.
“There are no fair trials in Washington for Jan. 6 protesters,” Sabatini said. “We have not seen one yet.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Rumson spent around two hours on Capitol grounds that day, making his way past “AREA CLOSED” signs with scores of Trump supporters angry over Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win. He was seen approaching the Capitol, entering the building, and, apparently being escorted from the building, assaulting a police officer.
According to the probable cause affidavit in support of his arrest, Rumson was “given the hashtag name of “#SeditionPanda” because, at times, the individual was seen in both open-source and other footage wearing a large headpiece that appeared to be from a panda costume.”
Rumson — far from the only costumed person on Capitol grounds that day — “puts on and takes off his panda headpiece” as he marched with the crowd, according to the affidavit.
He was also “initially carrying brown, wood rosary beads and a silver flagpole with a white flag with black writing, and was wearing an army green backpack, camouflage pants, a black T-shirt with white writing, and a gray zip-up hoodie with dark sleeves that included a red and gray striped band around the elbow area,” the affidavit said.
According to investigators, he entered the Capitol building at 2:40 p.m., less than 30 minutes after the initial breach.
“[O]nce other rioters had successfully broken open the Capitol’s Parliamentary Door on the Upper West Terrace, RUMSON can be seen running from the Senate Wing Door, hopping over railings, and climbing the stairs to enter the Capitol through the Parliamentary Door,” the affidavit says. “He was among the first approximately twenty rioters to enter that door after it was breached.”
While inside the building, the affidavit says, Rumson “appears to lose or leave behind the panda headpiece.”
Around 10 minutes after entering the building, security footage shows Rumson leaving the building “without the headpiece and with his hands behind his back,” according to the affidavit.
Pictures from a different Jan. 6 investigation show that “other rioters helped remove handcuffs” from Rumson’s wrists, according to the affidavit. Rumson is later seen on a video near the Senate Wing Door “right around the time when that door was breached for a second time,” the affidavit says. “GET A RAM!” Rumson is allegedly yelling in the video.
At around 4:20, federal investigators say, Rumson is seen in pictures and video approaching a line of police pushing rioters to leave Capitol grounds entirely.
Rumson then “assaulted at least one law enforcement officer, S.A., by, after running through the crowd towards the officer, reaching out, and grabbing the officer’s face shield, which forced the officer’s head and neck back and upwards,” according to the affidavit.
He was seen on video “likely exiting the area as the sun was setting,” the affidavit says.
His sentencing is set for Sept. 5.
Law&Crime’s Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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