Houston Police Officer Tam Dinh Pham has been relieved from duty, arrested, and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, violent entry, and disorderly conduct. Officer Pham was busted after taking photos of himself at the United States Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Pham was among a group of Trump supporters that stormed and briefly occupied the building to protest the certification of Electoral College results for the 2020 Presidential Election by Congress.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said that last week he received a tip that one of his officers had been present inside the Capitol Building. He contacted the FBI and suspended Pham after checking his Facebook page. Pham has since resigned. He was an 18 year veteran of the Houston Police Department (HPD).
When questioned by the FBI, Pham denied that he was present in the Capitol Building. He told agents that he was in Washington D.C. on a business trip and that he only went to the Trump rally to "see history." He also admitted following the crowd to the Capitol Building, climbing over barricades, and navigating downed fences, but he denied ever entering the building. Unfortunately for Pham, the FBI found photos that Pham had taken of himself inside the Capitol Building when they searched his phone. Pham tried to delete the images, but forgot to clear out his deleted files folder. When confronted with the photos and warned that lying to the FBI is a crime he finally admitted being inside the building. He said that he went into the building to look at historical art and take pictures. The FBI later said that metadata from the phone placed Pham in the Capitol Rotunda around the same time that another protester's feet were on Nancy Pelosi's desk.
Officer Pham is a 48 year old Vietnamese immigrant. He resides in Richmond, Texas. Officer Pham is the officer that Chief Acevedo was talking about in the video below.