The Snack Artist
Membership Revoked
This seems odd as it's a man (weeger) who broke the law and is actually doing time for the crime. huh. I wish to see a LOT more of this!
Downstate man who said rioting in Chicago and Minneapolis was the “best thing I ever did in my life” heads to federal prison for 105 months
August 11, 2021 CWBChicago Loop
A downstate man who live-streamed hours of footage as he threw explosives, set fires, and encouraged others to riot in Chicago and Minneapolis in the days after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last year has been sentenced to nearly nine years in federal prison.
Matthew Rupert, who pleaded guilty to one count of arson in a Minnesota federal court this spring, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. The charge stemmed from the burning of a Sprint store in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020. Rupert live-streamed his actions as he and some friends entered a looted cellular store and started a fire.
Matthew Rupert in a 2018 Galesburg Police Department mugshot (inset) and a screengrab showing part of his now-deleted Facebook Live library. | Galesburg PD; Facebook
“The video also depicts Rupert asking for lighter fluid before entering a boarded-up Sprint store located on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Rupert canvassed the store and eventually entered a backroom while telling others that he had located a store safe. Rupert and others then knocked several boxes into a pile on the ground,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis said in a statement Tuesday. “Rupert doused the pile of boxes with lighter fluid and then directed another individual—at the time a juvenile—to light the pile on fire. Rupert fled the building and stated, ‘I lit it on fire!’ The store sustained significant damage as a result of the fire.”
Facebook deleted Rupert’s video library shortly after the fire — but not before your friends at CWBChicago saved it for you. Here’s footage of him committing the federal crime that would eventually send him to prison for 105 months:
The prosecutor’s office said Rupert’s hours of Facebook video footage also “depicted handing out artillery-shell fireworks, encouraging violence against law enforcement officers, actively damaging property, breaking into buildings, and looting businesses.”
“Best thing I ever did in my life,” Rupert says of the Minneapolis riots in another video before taking an incoming call: “What’s up, mom? We’re out here wreckin’ ‘em. I’m throwing my fireworks back.”
Rupert and his crew then made their way to Chicago, where he continued to bless Facebook Live — and prosecutors — with hours of footage.
But his luck ran out when Chicago cops arrested him and his 29-year-old brother for violating a citywide curfew in the Loop around 1:45 a.m. on May 31, 2020. Police reported finding homemade bombs in the car they were in.
You can support CWBChicago’s start-to-finish tracking of important court cases by becoming a subscriber today!
Downstate man who said rioting in Chicago and Minneapolis was the “best thing I ever did in my life” heads to federal prison for 105 months
Matthew Rupert, who live streamed hours of footage as he set fires, threw explosives, and encouraged others to riot in Minneapolis and Chicago, is going to federal prison for 105 months.
cwbchicago.com
Downstate man who said rioting in Chicago and Minneapolis was the “best thing I ever did in my life” heads to federal prison for 105 months
August 11, 2021 CWBChicago Loop
A downstate man who live-streamed hours of footage as he threw explosives, set fires, and encouraged others to riot in Chicago and Minneapolis in the days after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last year has been sentenced to nearly nine years in federal prison.
Matthew Rupert, who pleaded guilty to one count of arson in a Minnesota federal court this spring, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel. The charge stemmed from the burning of a Sprint store in Minneapolis on May 29, 2020. Rupert live-streamed his actions as he and some friends entered a looted cellular store and started a fire.
“The video also depicts Rupert asking for lighter fluid before entering a boarded-up Sprint store located on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Rupert canvassed the store and eventually entered a backroom while telling others that he had located a store safe. Rupert and others then knocked several boxes into a pile on the ground,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis said in a statement Tuesday. “Rupert doused the pile of boxes with lighter fluid and then directed another individual—at the time a juvenile—to light the pile on fire. Rupert fled the building and stated, ‘I lit it on fire!’ The store sustained significant damage as a result of the fire.”
Facebook deleted Rupert’s video library shortly after the fire — but not before your friends at CWBChicago saved it for you. Here’s footage of him committing the federal crime that would eventually send him to prison for 105 months:
The prosecutor’s office said Rupert’s hours of Facebook video footage also “depicted handing out artillery-shell fireworks, encouraging violence against law enforcement officers, actively damaging property, breaking into buildings, and looting businesses.”
“Best thing I ever did in my life,” Rupert says of the Minneapolis riots in another video before taking an incoming call: “What’s up, mom? We’re out here wreckin’ ‘em. I’m throwing my fireworks back.”
Rupert and his crew then made their way to Chicago, where he continued to bless Facebook Live — and prosecutors — with hours of footage.
But his luck ran out when Chicago cops arrested him and his 29-year-old brother for violating a citywide curfew in the Loop around 1:45 a.m. on May 31, 2020. Police reported finding homemade bombs in the car they were in.
You can support CWBChicago’s start-to-finish tracking of important court cases by becoming a subscriber today!