Self-described Haddonfield sex and ‘relationship strategist’ charged in Capitol riot
Prosecutors say Patrick Stedman who bills himself to Twitter followers as an expert in “female psychology,” chronicled storming the Capitol with fellow Trump supporters, then tried to blame antifa.
A self-described Haddonfield sex and “relationship strategist” who hosts a social media show he calls “COVID/CABAL” was arrested Thursday in connection with the Capitol riot investigation.
Prosecutors say Patrick A. Stedman, 32, who bills himself as an expert in “female psychology,” chronicled his storming of the building with videos he posted to his nearly 26,000 Twitter followers in real time.
But even as he crowed online about being “among the first wave” of President Donald Trump’s supporters who “broke down the doors and climbed up the back part of the Capitol building,” he was also telling his followers that antifa was to blame for the incursion.
In fact, logical consistency wasn’t one of Stedman’s strong suits in his social media posts that day, investigators said in court filings charging him with disorderly conduct and illegally entering Capitol grounds.
“I can tell you having been in the Capitol, those videos the MSM [mainstream media] is showing of fights between cops and protesters are unlike any of the dynamics I saw,” he said in one video.
Moments earlier, he had posted: “Shots fired, guns drawn by guards.”
Other videos posted to Stedman’s account show him sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
“Patriots took the hard drives from the Capitol,” he tweeted triumphantly later, falsely declaring Trump had sent in the D.C. National Guard to assist the rioters. “What did we tell you these last few months? The storm is here.”
Stedman, who lives with his wife and their month-old child in his parents’ home in South Jersey, has developed a moderately sizable following by casting himself as a pickup artist and trafficking in a steady mix of misogyny, COVID denialism, and QAnon conspiracy theories online.
He offers relationship coaching classes at $500 a session, promising to unlock the mysteries of “well-executed online dating exchanges” and “the easiest way to ‘supercharge’ your woman’s femininity.”
His daily “sex and female psychology” newsletter promises to answer once and for all the question of what women “really” want from men. (Answer: “They want a man who makes them feel comfort and desire.”)
Last year, Stedman warned about a “Deep State cabal” and “satanic rituals” in an appearance on the “Masculine By Design Mancast” and more recently he warned his adherents on Twitter that “by now, you should all be prepared for what’s coming.”
In fact, FBI agents said in court documents Thursday, Stedman viewed Trump’s Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally as a history-making event. In the days leading up to it, he encouraged followers to join him in Washington, insisting the date would be commemorated for years to come as a national holiday, “like the 4th of July.”
“You will want to tell your grandchildren you were there,” he wrote.
Though by Wednesday, as President Joe Biden was inaugurated on the same Capitol steps where he and the rest of the mob launched their incursion, Stedman appeared to have realized the day might not be celebrated for the reasons he had hoped.
He tweeted that he had “never felt so disconnected from the commentary” and added he “will be taking this opportunity to unplug for a few days and focus on writing, lifting, and meditation.”
The next morning, FBI agents showed up to arrest him, tipped off by Stedman’s former high school and college classmates who reported the videos he had posted online.
During an initial court hearing Thursday in Camden, Stedman’s attorney, Rocco Cipparone Jr., acknowledged his client had recently expressed a desire to move to Poland — a wish Stedman detailed in a May interview with the Daily Mail for a story about people fleeing New York City amid the pandemic.
“Obviously, the circumstances have changed,” Cipparone told U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Williams, who ordered Stedman to surrender his passport as she agreed to release him on an unsecured bond.
Like the eight other area residents who have been charged in the Capitol attack, his case will play out in federal court in Washington.
Read the FBI affidavit: