Robert Jacob Hoopes, who admitted to throwing a stone at a federal officer during a protest outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
Court records show that Hoopes pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal employee with a dangerous weapon. The stone, thrown in June 2025, struck the face of an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer.
Prosecutors reported that the injury was serious and that the officer’s bleeding wound impaired his vision. The officer required medical treatment beyond basic first aid, according to the case file.
In addition to the prison sentence, the federal prosecution announced that Hoopes was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution exceeding $8,000.
The investigation revealed that the FBI used facial recognition technology. According to investigation documents, agents scanned a publicly available photo through commercial facial recognition software and obtained about 30 possible matches.
Investigators then examined a photo on Reed College’s SmugMug page and identified a detail matching a tattoo on the suspect’s forearm seen during the protest.
Scott Bradford, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, stated after the ruling that violence is not a form of protest and emphasized that those who attack federal officers will be prosecuted.
Hoopes’s father, Tom Hoopes, had previously described his son as "peaceful for life," did not deny his participation in the protest, but did not comment on his role in the incident.
The Department of Justice has pursued similar cases against many individuals accused of attacking federal officers during protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Numerous arrests were also reported during recent clashes outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
