WASHINGTON — The FBI this week arrested a New Jersey man who wore a throwback Philadelphia Eagles beanie to the Jan. 6 riot after online “sedition hunters” identified him with the help of facial recognition and Facebook photos from a 2020 family trip to a pumpkin patch.
Lee Giobbie, 40, a financial adviser from Eastampton, was arrested Tuesday and charged with several federal crimes, including felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Giobbie, federal authorities alleged, yelled “move the gates!” over a bullhorn before the barricades on the east side of the Capitol were breached on Jan. 6, 2021. He was later recorded at the front of the mob yelling “push, push, push, push!” as it broke through another police line and then helped breach the Capitol, pushing through the east doors leading into the rotunda, authorities said.
“We need something to break the door down!” Giobbie said, according to the FBI, which said open-source video also shows Giobbie pushing against a police shield during the chaos.
Giobbie, authorities said, was “one of the first rioters to enter” and “aggressively pushed his way through the Rotunda Door as police were actively trying to defend it.” Inside the Capitol, Giobbie was briefly detained by an officer, and he ultimately left the Capitol through a door on the west side of the building, according to the FBI and open-source evidence gathered by online sleuths.
Online sleuths identified Giobbie in 2022 and reported him to the FBI that year, and they reported additional information about him last year. They turned up a 2020 family photo from a trip to a pumpkin patch, posted a few months before Jan. 6, in which Giobbie was wearing the same Philadelphia Eagles beanie the FBI said he wore on Jan. 6.
An FBI affidavit, citing help from confidential human sources, also featured an image that compared a small mole or freckle on Giobbie’s right cheek that appeared in both Giobbie’s professional work portrait and high-quality images of Giobbie taken on Jan. 6. Small facial markings can help confirm matches produced by facial recognition, a tool that has proven very useful to the online sleuths who have aided the FBI in cases against hundreds of Capitol rioters, who have identified hundreds of additional rioters like Giobbie.
Hope Lefeber, an attorney for Giobbie, told NBC News that Giobbie was made aware that he was under investigation several months ago and confirmed that it did appear that Giobbie “was inside the Capitol building.” Giobbie, she said, was not arrested at his home, and his home was not searched, but agents served a search warrant for his phone.
Lefeber said she had communicated to the government that Giobbie would have voluntarily surrendered and said that sending agents out to arrest him was a waste of government time.
“This man has not engaged in any subversive activities, has not been destructive in any way, has not done a damn thing since Jan. 6,” Lefeber said. “Now we’ll have to resolve this and see where this goes.”
The Eagles used the version of their logo featured on Giobbie’s hat from the late 1980s until 1996, when the modern Eagles logo was introduced. The throwback logo, used when the Eagles wore kelly green jerseys rather than their current midnight green color, has proven immensely popular among Eagles fans like Giobbie, who, according to social media posts, also roots for the New Jersey Devils.
The Eagles set off a merchandising bonanza when they reintroduced their old-school logo and kelly green jersey before the 2023 season, which ended with their loss Jan. 15 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Eagles players wore the throwback uniforms during their games against the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills this season. Fanatics, the ubiquitous sportswear manufacturer, had trouble stocking the throwback version of legendary Eagles center Jason Kelce’s jersey, which have been listed for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
The Eagles certainly were not the only sports team whose gear was spotted on Capitol rioters. A former Boston K-9 officer who has been charged in the attack, for example, wore “a beanie with the logos of several Boston sports teams” to the Capitol on Jan. 6, two charged rioters wore Washington Capitols jerseys, another convicted rioter wore a New York Yankees hat, a charged Georgia man wore a Georgia Bulldogs hat, a Michigan man who pleaded guilty wore a Michigan sweatshirt, and a charged “internet pornography personality” was known to online sleuths as #RightWingRedWing because of his Detroit Red Wings gear.
The FBI has arrested about 1,250 people in connection with the Capitol attack, and about 900 have pleaded guilty. Online “sedition hunters” know the names of hundreds of additional rioters who have not been arrested.
