A Virginia man who was captured in images rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz” has been sentenced to prison by US District Judge Carl Nichols, who called the rioter’s sweatshirt “incredibly offensive,” The New York Post reports.
Robert Keith Packer, 57, was sentenced to 75 days in prison. On the back of the sweatshirt he wore that day were the words, “Staff.”
From the Post:
Packer, of Virginia, garnered widespread attention for the black “Camp Auschwitz” pullover that featured a skull and crossbones and the phrase “Works Brings Freedom” — a rough translation of the German “Arbeit Macht Frei,” which was written above the gates of Auschwitz.
…
According to Assistant US Attorney Mona Furst, Packer also wore another Nazi-related article underneath the pullover: an “SS” T-shirt, a reference to the Nazi Party paramilitary organization founded by Adolf Hitler.
FBI agents reported in a court filing that Packer “fatuously” said he wore the offensive sweatshirt, “Because I was cold,” when pressed on his motivations.
Packer was arrested one week after the Jan. 6 insurrection and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
“It seems to me that he wore that sweatshirt for a reason. We don’t know what the reason was because Mr. Packer hasn’t told us,” Judge Nichols said.
Read the full report over at The New York Post.
